


To Change A Dove For A Raven

by Spriggans_of_Middle_Earth



Category: SAO the Abridged Series, Sword Art Online (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Abuse, Alternate Fairy Dance Arc: Sugou Nobuyuki | Oberon Imprisons Kirigaya Kazuto | Kirito Post-Aincrad, Creepy Sugou Nobuyuki | Oberon, Damsel in shining armor, F/M, Forced Feminization, Implied/Referenced Brainwashing, Kidnapping, M/M, One-Sided Relationship, Prince in distress, Sexual Assault, Sword Art Online Abridged - Freeform, Unhealthy Relationships, no beta we die like Sachi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-05
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-16 19:13:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 25,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29212464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spriggans_of_Middle_Earth/pseuds/Spriggans_of_Middle_Earth
Summary: A nightmare two years in the making ends and Kirito wakes up to a whole new one. His refuge becomes his prison as a man calling himself Oberon - but refusing to pronounce it correctly - locks him away in a new body in a new game. With Admin Commands, Oberon strips Kirito of his bravado little by little, until all that's left is the scared little boy who escaped into a world of video games.
Relationships: Kirigaya Kazuto | Kirito/Sugou Nobuyuki | Oberon, Kirigaya Kazuto | Kirito/Yuuki Asuna | Asuna, Sugou Nobuyuki | Oberon/Yuuki Asuna | Asuna
Comments: 12
Kudos: 61





	1. The Raven

He’d been crying a moment ago, face hot with tears and voice rough. Then the world collapsed around him into an infinite darkness and he followed with it, avatar disintegrating as he and thousands of Sword Art Online players woke up from a nightmare two years in the making.

Except, he wasn’t waking up. Kirito felt himself floating weightlessly in the blackness surrounding him, no avatar with which to send digitally generated signals to his brain. He’d been crying a moment ago, but he couldn’t feel the tightness in his throat, or the trail of tears leaking down his face.

Why wasn’t he waking up? Did that bastard Kayaba trick him? Was he going to die after all!?

If he’d had an avatar at that moment Kirito would have started hyperventilating. That would have been better, instead he was trapped with his racing thoughts and no physical outlet. He couldn’t scream, demand answers, pace, or even _breathe_.

It might have been hours, or days… or just minutes. But eventually Kirito managed to gather his thoughts. Thousands of people had died, but thousands still lived and were all being logged out at once; chances were, this was just lag. Yeah. Sure. That made sense.

He was going to die here, wasn’t he? Maybe that wouldn’t be so terrible. It was dark, it was silent. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t speak. It was just nothing.

Nothing.

No-

<Hello.>

The full dive system fully cut off physical sensations from his real body, but Kirito swore he felt his heart skip a beat.

<Your account has been successfully transferred.>

His account? What?

<Welcome to Alfheim Online. Time to create your character. First, choose your race.>

No. No no no, this made no sense. He’d just beaten Sword Art Online, he _won_. And now he was in another game? What, was Kayaba working on _two_ games in during his sleep deprived breakdown?

Light pierced the darkness, blinding white letters and humanoid figures springing from the nothingness. Kirito wished he had an avatar just so he could close his eyes, or even squint. After that darkness, the brightness hurt. Not half as bad as using SAO’s glitched out detective mode, but still enough it was a good thing he didn’t have lungs to curse up a storm with.

The character creation screen showed him a reflection, decked out in green with golden hair and emerald eyes. Delicate dragonfly wings decorated his reflection’s back and the ears were tapered to a fine point. The script above his reflection’s head read ‘Sylph’ with a ‘race details’ button beneath and arrows on either side. On instinct Kirito began to scroll. Undine, his reflection’s hair, eyes, and wings became blue. Salamander, red. Cait Sith and they reverted to black, but now the avatar sported a fuzzy pair of cat-like ears and a sleek black tail. He could just imagine Asuna’s reaction if she saw; she’d give him shit for a week.

Before thoughts of his wife could send him into a spiral, the character creation wheel began to move on its own. The available races dissolved into pixels and a single new race option appeared in their place; Alf. Kirito watched as his reflection became his again, black eyes and black hair, but with shimmering white wings that were decidedly more corporeal than those of the other races. Then the ‘customize character’ button flashed on its own. The game seemed to be going crazy, creating an avatar without any conscious thought on his part, even going against him when he tried to regain control. The avatar kept his face and body, but the hair became long, spilling down the back with multiple braids woven through. The generic beginner armor was replaced with a revealing, _humiliating_ outfit.

A skin tight halter top that left the stomach bare, shiny black material trimmed with gold and sparkling like it was the night sky filled with stars. Black harem pants made of the same material and sleek golden ribbon tied around his waist. Gold earrings dangled from the elfin ears, gold bands encrusted with purple gemstones adorned the arms. Amethysts? Kirito didn’t know, and he didn’t care. The avatar’s shape – the bone structure, facial features, height, width – hadn’t changed at all, those were all him. But in those garments and with that hairstyle the avatar looked exactly like a girl. The worst part was, if it weren’t him, Kirito would have thought the avatar pretty.

<Are you happy with your character?>

No! Absolutely not! He was Kirito! The black swordsman! Dual wielding badass who beat Kayaba and saved everyone in Sword Art Online! _He did not go through a_ _goddamn_ _character arc for this!_

But of course, the game ignored his wishes. The confirmation button flashed and the world was enveloped in white.

* * *

There were birds singing. He could feel sunlight on his skin and there were birds singing.

He could hear. He could feel. And, as he parted his eyelids to be greeted with the bars of a cage, Kirito realized he could see.

“What the heck!?”

As caught up as he was with his strange surroundings, Kirito didn’t even register that the word that had come out of his mouth was different from the word he’d intended altogether. He was inside a cage, but not like one of the dungeons from SAO. Rather, it looked more like a giant bird cage, nestled high in the branches of a gigantic tree against the backdrop of a bright blue sky. Kirito took a step forward, bare feet cold against the white tile. A sudden breeze made him acutely aware of how little he was wearing and in a fit of self consciousness he wrapped his arms around his waist to cover his exposed stomach.

The cage was elegant, but sparely decorated. Just a patio table and two chairs, and a large, semicircular bed placed beneath a sheer canopy dangling from the top of the cage by a thin gold chain.

And the flowers. So many fucking flowers. White planters filled with delicate blooms of various colors and sizes surrounding the perimeter of the cage. What kind of prison had flowers?

“Welcome to your new home, Puck.”

Kirito flinched. Whirling on the spot, he found himself face to face with a strange man in green. A sylph? But he didn’t resemble the green-clad avatars from the character creation screen. Instead of armor he was wrapped in a floor length green robe held closed by a large, gaudy emerald clasp, and atop his shoulder length blonde hair sat a heavy gold crown adorned with more emeralds.

“What the fudge did you just call me?” Kirito asked, eyes going wide a second later. “Did I just say-”

“Unfortunate requirement of marketing my experiment as a children’s game,” the blonde man interrupted him. “But it has its benefits. I must say...”

He stepped closer, invading Kirito’s space. On instinct Kirito reached for a sword that wasn’t there, only for the man to catch his wrist in a vice grip. His strength stat had been so high before but he felt like he was back in the real world with his real world strength. He strained and tried to pull away, but the man simply smirked as he took a lock of Kirito’s now long hair in his free hand and lowered his face to it.

And inhaled.

Deeply.

Kirito suddenly bile crawl up his throat.

“Oh gosh, what are you doing?”

The man laughed. Chuckled really. Right in Kirito’s ear.

“You smell like innocence.”

Kirito lurched back, nearly colliding with the patio table. The strange man laughed, drinking in his prisoner’s reaction. His features were handsome but the smirk pulling at his lips twisted them into something ugly. Despite his best efforts, Kirito could feel slight tremors racing down his spine as he stared.

“You may call me O _ber_ on, King of the fairies-”

“Pretty sure it’s pronounced _O_ beron.”

“-and I suppose you must be the great _Hero of Aincrad_ I’ve been reading about in the papers.”

He was still shaking with disgust, but Kirito swallowed down the lump in his throat and squared his shoulders, schooling his expression into a glare. As much as he tried to project strength, however, he couldn’t still his hands, or hide the paleness of his face.

“I-in the papers?” He laughed. “Way to show your age there, grandpa. What, did you grab your trusty penny-farthing and a shiny nickel to-”

“Okay. Shut up.”

Kirito clenched his teeth.

“I’m sure you have a whole bag of exceptionally clever comebacks you’re dying to spring on me. But the thing is, it doesn’t matter how sharp your tongue is, or how big a hero you were in Sword Art Online. Because from this point onward you’re merely Puck, the fairy king’s loyal and devoted servant.”

“Uh, no the fudge I’m not,” Kirito growled. “I think that crown of yours is cutting off the circulation to your brain, gramps. In case you didn’t know, I’m the guy who _beat_ Kayaba Akihiko _literally_ at his own game. You really think you can keep me here?”

“With administrative control over the whole system,” Oberon answered, “I can do anything I want. I’m sure you’ve noticed already that your strength stat isn’t quite what you’re used to. And it’s not just your stats I’ve altered. Why don’t you open your menu and take a look?”

Kirito glowered, skeptical, but he raised his hand nonetheless to open the menu and logout and get away from this creepy clown. Only when he swiped at the air, nothing happened. Eyes going wide, he swiped again. Was the air growing thinner? He swiped again. And again. And agai-

The man calling himself Oberon grabbed his wrist.

“It’s with the other hand,” he said, releasing Kirito’s hand, “my dear Puck.”

Kirito tried it and was able to breathe a sigh of relief as the menu appeared from thin air. Irritation quickly replaced relief.

“Eeew. You set inverted controls as the default? You really are sick.”

The menu wasn’t all that different from SAO’s. There was his character screen, his inventory, the communications panel. Scrolling all the way to the bottom however, where the logout button should have been, there was nothing. A blank panel. Just like SAO.

“As you can see,” Oberon sneered, “I have the power to keep you here indefinitely. You and two hundred ninety nine other players.”

Kirito swiped the menu shut, using a bit more force than necessary. Oberon was smiling but the look in his eyes was cold and calculating, and he loomed over Kirito with that sickening grin. Never before had Kirito felt so vulnerable, not even when he was paralyzed at Kuradeel’s mercy.

“There’s no way you’re going to get away with this,” Kirito spat. “You really think people won’t friggin’ notice when three hundred of the SAO survivors don’t wake up? Plus – and I’d really like to stress this part – I’M A GUY. A new haircut and costume isn’t going to change that.”

“I could change your avatar’s gender, if you’d like.”

Kirito balked, and Oberon laughed.

“Oh relax, if I wanted to I could have changed it right away, but clearly I didn’t. In truth you weren’t even my real target; I had planned all of this-” He turned and threw his arms in the air, indicating his fairy tale prison. “-for my queen, Titania. Unfortunately when Sword Art Online’s servers came crashing down two weeks ago-” Kirito’s breath stopped short. Two weeks? “-it logged the surviving players out in rapid bursts. _She_ was logged out just moments before I could isolate her account information. I cannot _tell_ you how furious I was; that poor intern’s going to be in therapy for years.”

Two weeks. It’d been two weeks since he’d beaten SAO. Did that mean he was in that dark place for two whole weeks?

“But then,” Oberon continued, oblivious to or uncaring of Kirito’s turmoil, “what do I happen upon but a second account linked to my queen’s through SAO’s marriage system! Yet to be logged out! So of course I had to seize upon the opportunity to capture a useful bargaining chip to regain my queen. And once I laid eyes on you in the hospital-”

Kirito shuddered.

“-I thought, why not keep her little boy toy for myself? After all, is it not the right of a king to keep a mistress or two? True, you aren’t a woman but you have a sort of delicate look I find _quite_ irresistible.”

Suddenly Oberon was right in his face, crowding Kirito back against the table. He seized Kirito’s chin and forced his head up and a painful angle so their eyes were locked.

“And don’t you worry about people finding out about this; after all, I’m the _real_ hero who saved all of the SAO players after that imbecile Kayaba deep-sixed the industry and bankrupted Argus. It’s the company I work for that bought up all of SAO’s servers on _my_ suggestion and kept you and every other SAO player alive for the past two years. I’m even using my own resources to solve this _unfortunate_ system glitch that’s preventing three hundred players from waking up. Out of the kindness of my own heart, no less. Now tell me, hero, after all of that, don’t you think I’m owed a little _satisfaction?_ ”

That slimy grin never wavered as Oberon laid out his speech, warping and spreading further as he drove home just how hopeless Kirito’s situation was. Kirito’s face hurt where Oberon’s fingers dug into soft skin, and his expression was blank as he listened to Oberon’s gloating. Then…

He smiled. A small one at first, just the slightest upward turn of his lips, then it a wicked smirk as he glared up defiantly at his captor.

“You have no idea how fudged you are.”

Oberon’s grin fell as Kirito burst out into laughter. Reigning his laughter in, Kirito ripped his face free of the bruising grip. He resisted the urge to reach and massage his sore cheeks, focusing instead on standing his ground.

“Let me give you a heads up, Thranduil; my wife once stalked me across one of the highest floors of Castle Aincrad and slaughtered an assassin who came after me while he was on his knees begging for mercy. She once _burned down_ her own friend’s blacksmith shop for _talking_ to me. Your days are numbered, buddy. You just painted a giant flashing neon target on your back _begging_ her to come and rip your spine out with her teeth, and when she does she’ll probably turn your skull into a fashionable handbag.”

Frowning, Oberon stepped back, though not out of fear. His expression was dull and he crossed his arms.

“Oh honestly, you should be ashamed of yourself. Are you really counting on a _woman_ to come running to your rescue?”

“Obviously you don’t know a darn thing about Asuna, ‘cause if you did you’d know that’s nothing to be ashamed of. Really, you should count yourself lucky you got me instead. Right now I’m planning on killing you quickly. If Asuna beats me to the punch, she’s going to make you _beg_ for the sweet release of a merciful death.”

Oberon quirked a brow, expression remaining otherwise unchanged.

“Oh? You’re planning on killing me?”

And with that, Kirito’s world exploded into pain. He went sprawling backwards, knocking over the table and the chairs as he landed on the floor in a painful heap. His body ached where it had hit the furniture and his face felt like it was on fire. Before he had a chance to recover Oberon was on him, straddling his waist and wrapping his hands around Kirito’s throat.

“Don’t make me laugh!” he roared as he squeezed. “Even if I hadn’t reset your level to one you’d still have no chance! I am the system admin, and I have total control over this world and everyone in it! I can change your gender or your stats or even remove your senses and render you completely helpless! I am the _king_ of this world and _you_ are my slave!”

Kirito kicked and struggled, clawing at Oberon’s wrists while his lungs burned for air he didn’t need. Logically he knew he wasn’t suffocating; his real body in the real world had air, and his digital body didn’t require things like food and water or even oxygen. But the avatar was still connected to his human brain, sending and receiving signals as though it were a real body, and as far as Kirito’s brain was concerned these hands on him were _real_ , really crushing his throat in their unrelenting grip, really squeezing tighter and tighter until his vision grew dim and black spots flashed across his eyes…

Just when he thought he might pass out, Oberon released him and Kirito gasped, sucking in lungfuls of air. He could still feel the dull ache on his throat, and flinched when deceptively gentle fingertips traced along the surface of his skin.

“In general I do prefer women,” Oberon mused aloud as he drew patterns up the aching column of Kirito’s throat. “But there is one thing I prefer about men. I would never be this rough with by future wife, but I’ll enjoy showing you your place by force.” He hummed thoughtfully. “I should find a way to make the bruises stay.”

He lowered his head, bringing his face closer and closer to Kirito’s. Kirito reared up and spat in his face before he could try anything. Flinching, Oberon wiped the drool off of his cheek.

“I changed my mind,” Kirito growled. “I’m killing you slow.”

Oberon stared down at him, expression cold.

“You are welcome to try.”

* * *

Some ‘urgent business’ pulled Oberon away not long afterwards. He wasn’t out of sight more than two seconds before Kirito was on his feet trying to escape. The door to the cage was sealed with a genre breaking, high tech coded lock. Oberon had simply logged in right inside of the cage and left the same way without giving Kirito a chance to figure out what the code was. Didn’t matter. Kirito already had another way out. Now, if Oberon were smart he’d have made the dome of the cage a single solid object and added a transparent material between the bars with collision still on.

But the guy couldn’t even pronounce his own name right, so it came as no surprise to Kirito when he was able to stick his arm right through.

“An evil genius, he is not,” Kirito muttered. It was a tight squeeze, but with some careful maneuvering he was able to slide between the bars, climbing along the outside of the cage until he reached the tree branch. Yeah, that Oberon guy was really, _really_ lucky he hadn’t gotten Asuna, because at this point she’d be going on a rampage. All Kirito wanted to do was get as far away from that fucking creeper and his stupid cage as possible.

Problem was, the tree was _so much fucking bigger_ than Kirito had imagined it. He was a city boy, he’d never been camping in his life not counting hanging out in forested dungeons in SAO. He’d never imagined a tree could get this big. It was practically a skyscraper, the closest village down below looking like a cluster of dots at the base of the trunk. He had wings but no clue how to use them or if they even worked in the first place. If he fell from this height, he wondered, what would happen to him? Just because he wasn’t in SAO anymore didn’t mean he wasn’t bound to SAO’s rules. The logout button didn’t work and the NerveGear was still strapped to his head.

He didn’t want to die dressed like Princess Jasmine after she’d been captured by Jafar. But he wasn’t about to stick around and wait for Jafar’s older, grosser cousin from Middle Earth to get back either. Taking a deep breath, Kirito began his descent.

The tree bark was rough on his bare feet as he ran along the branch. He kept going until he found a bridge woven together from many smaller branches. The path remained thankfully but suspiciously clear as he ran on, all the way to the trunk where an open arch lead to a weirdly sci-fi looking panel embedded deep in the wood. No doorknob, just a hand scanner. It couldn’t be that easy…

It could. The scanner lit up green at Kirito’s touch and the doors slid open for him.

“I’m in,” he murmured to himself in a corny hacker voice as he strolled right through. No alarm went off, no guards came running. It was almost like Oberon was _asking_ him to escape. The hallway was a long, bare white tunnel that seemed to stretch on without end. Kirito moved quickly, keeping alert just in case someone came along. He wished he had a sword, or any weapon really, but hopefully it wouldn’t come to a fight. With luck he’d be able to find an admin console and use that to log out.

But then, when had luck ever been on his side?

Just as he thought that, Kirito found it was for once; a spot of color against the white. A map! His excitement was short lived as Kirito approached the map, only to realize it only showed the level he was on. Still, it was better than nothing, and he only needed this level if there was an admin console nearby. Scanning the labeled rooms, he searched for one that was sure to have a console. One in particular caught his eye.

“Experiment hangar?” he mused aloud. Now that he thought about it, Oberon had referred to this game as an experiment of some sort, hadn’t he? And he wasn’t the only one trapped there, there were two hundred ninety nine other players-

“Hey you!”

Kirito whirled around, eyes going wide. A monster, a giant purple slug with dozens of waving tentacles, was staring at him, the bulbous orange eyes protruding from stalks on its head scanning him over suspiciously.

“Who are- Wait, you’re the girl! What are you doing out of your cage?”

Kirito was frozen. He was unarmed, level reset to one, facing an unknown adversary. Normally monsters’ names and levels would show on the HUD just by looking at them, but he couldn’t see anything from the slug. Almost like a player with their status set to ‘private.’

Did he run? Did he fight? Oberon had been able to hold onto him with no effort whatsoever. How would Oberon respond when he learned Kirito had broken out of the cage? Would he outright kill him? What was the better option? Run? Or fight?

“The boss’ll have my head if he finds out you escaped,” the slug continued. It left a trail of slime in its wake as it slithered closer, tentacles stretching out towards him. “C’mon, let’s get you back in your cage. And maybe…” The slug leered. “You and I can have a little fun on the way back. How does that sound, cutie?”

Kirito’s vision went red. Charging forward without thought. Without a sword. He was on the monster in an instant, grabbing those soft squishy eyes in both hands and _tearing_ them with all of his now limited strength. As it turned out, that was enough. The slug wailed in pain as the stalks were ripped free of its body.

“ _Who’s cute, ash-hole? Is this cute?_ ” he screeched. Dropping the stalks, he dug his fingers into the slug’s head, grabbed, and in a spray of red pixels tore off a baseball sized chunk of avatar flesh. “ _Are you having fun yet!?_ ”

A tentacle grabbed his wrist in a weak attempt to stop him from tearing at whatever he could get his hands off. Kirito twisted his head and sank his teeth into the soft purple flesh. The slug screamed again as he bit clean through the tentacle and then continued to tear chunks out of its avatar unhindered. It vanished in a shower of cyan pixels, leaving Kirito standing there panting harshly. All that remained of it were a few torn off chunks of digital meat, glowing with red pixels where they’d been torn, and a single purple flame.

“Hey, whaddya know,” he growled at no one before continuing down the hall towards where the map said the experiment room was. “That _was_ fun!”

* * *

Shouji burst up from his station in a panic, face white and coated in a thin sheen of sweat.

“Oh fuck,” he breathed. Why the FUCK had he turned his pain absorption down so low!? Not that it should have mattered, it wasn’t like a scientist like him was going into battle. But if they had a monster like THAT locked up in the world tree with them then Sugou could have warned-

Oh, right.

“I gotta tell the boss about this...”

* * *

The slug creatures weren’t exactly hardened soldiers. Even with his level reset Kirito found their squishy bodies were easy to tear through bare handed. They must have been basic enemies made for starting players to grind; already Kirito had climbed a few levels and while level seven wasn’t exactly something to crow about, it was better than level one. On top of which, it made for some pretty decent stress relief, even when the alarms started blaring and the slug monsters came out en masse. His laughter rang out while the creatures wriggled and fled at the sight of him.

“YEAH THAT’S RIGHT BENCHES! YOU’D BETTER RUN! REAP THE FUDGING WHIRLWIND THAT IS THE UNBRIDLED FURY OF THE BLACK SWORDSMAN!”

He’d crowded a group of slugs at the end of a dead end hallway, and was advancing menacingly with bloodlust in his eyes. Their gelatinous bodies shuddered and trembled as they squished as far back as they could into the wall. Behind him a trail of purple flames lingered, all that was left of their fellows.

“W-w-wait, hold on!” one of the creatures groveled. “I-it’s nothing personal or n-nuthin’! It’s the boss’s fault, y-y-yeah? H-he’s the one who trapped you, w-we ain’t got nuthin’ t-to do w-w-with that!”

“Yeah, well _unfortunately_ he isn’t here right now. You are.” Kirito bore his teeth in a feral grin, eyes as small as pinpricks. He cracked his knuckles slowly, popping them one at a time. “And I have a _lot_ of rage to work off.”

With that he charged forward and the slugs shrieked in unison. They were still shrieking when Kirito crumpled to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.

...What?

For just a second before he fell, his vision had flashed yellow. His hair had fallen in front of his face so Kirito couldn’t see who or what had attacked him, but he could clearly see on the HUD – right next to his username and health bar – a flashing yellow lightning symbol. The same one SAO used to represent the paralysis effect.

The slugs remained frozen where they were. They didn’t have feet anyway, so he knew it wasn’t one of them when he heard footsteps approaching from behind.

“Are you all completely incompetent?” a familiar cold voice chided. “Honestly, I could hire actual slugs and they’d do a better job than you.”

Kirito’s eye twitched as a deceptively gentle hand brushed his hair from his face. He glared up at Oberon, who was kneeling over him with a smug smirk.

“Hello little Puck, now did you get out of your cage?”

“Fudge you, that’s how.”

Kirito hissed in pain as the gentle touch turned rough, Oberon grabbing a fistful of his hair and pulling hard.

“S-sorry boss,” one of the slug creatures said. “W-we don’t know how she got out.”

“Why didn’t you tell us she was that scary!?” another one demanded.

Oberon gathered Kirito up in his arms. Kirito hated how weightless and fragile he felt as he was lifted into a bridal carry.

“If you idiots were capable of doing your job correctly this would never have been an issue in the first place,” Oberon reprimanded. “This isn’t happening again. If I hear that Puck’s made it outside of my cage one more time I will be making some cuts; _starting with your heads_. Do I make myself clear?”

The slugs flinched.

“Y-yes boss!”

“Good.” Oberon smiled, then turned his eyes down to Kirito, who was still glowering at him. “Now, why don’t we get you back into your lovely cage?”

“Why don’t you go suck a duck?”

“Charming,” Oberon sighed. “System command; force teleport player ID: Oberon and player ID: Kirito. Location ID: Titania’s Cage.”

Pixels filled Kirito’s vision as the empty hallway vanished.

* * *

Oberon laid Kirito’s pliant body down on the bed. Kirito’s fingers twitched, the subtle movement the only indication of his vain struggle. The mattress sank as Oberon sat on the bed next to him and began gently stroking his cheek.

“And that’s what I _don’t_ like about men,” Oberon tutted. “Always so defiant. I’ll have to do something about your unruly behavior.”

“G-get your hands off me,” Kirito hissed, twisting his head away as much as the paralysis would allow. Not that it did much. A stray lock of hair fell in his face and Oberon was quick to brush it aside.

“Need I remind you that you belong to me now?” Oberon teased. His hand trailed down the side of Kirito’s face to his chest, teasing the bottom of the halter top where cloth met skin. “I’ll touch you as much as I like...”

Kirito couldn’t suppress a gasp as his fingers went underneath the cloth.

“And _where_ I like.”

Kirito squeezed his eyes shut. He turned his head away, fingers trembling with the great strain of fighting the paralysis. Oberon’s fingernails just barely grazed his skin, circling his nipples. He was so much more gentle than Asuna ever was. Kirito’s face burned with humiliation and his stomach recoiled at the unwanted touches. He clenched his teeth, words on the tip of his tongue but refusing to give Oberon the satisfaction of hearing him beg.

But then, thankfully, Oberon withdrew his hand. When Kirito opened his eyes his vision was blurred by the beginning of tears.

“Sadly, I don’t have time to teach you a proper lesson right now. I was quite busy when you pulled me away from my work with your little temper tantrum,” Oberon said. “The paralysis will wear off after about an hour of real world time. Now make sure you behave, or...”

Leaning down, Oberon swiped his tongue across Kirito’s cheek. Chuckling at Kirito’s disgusted shudder, he leaned in to whisper in his ear.

“I’ll have to assume you’re _lonely_ in here.”

At last he pulled back, laughing uproariously. He was still laughing when he logged out, leaving Kirito trembling on the bed.

* * *

Oberon said it would take an hour for the paralysis to wear off, but to Kirito it felt much longer. The entire time he spent there unable to move he feared Oberon would return, finished with whatever ‘business’ he had in the real world, and pick right back up where he left off. Right up until the status effect wore off he was completely unable to relax. Even when it did and his limbs were back under his control he felt slimy, like he wanted to claw off his own skin.

Swinging his legs over the side of the bed, Kirito stood and started walking right back to the bars. He took on step, then another.

Then his legs gave out under him. He felt his stomach roll and he choked back a gag. Was it possible to vomit in a virtual world? He got the feeling he was about to find out.

He didn’t throw up, but Kirito couldn’t pull himself to his feet again either. He scooted back against the bed, willing the shaking in his hands to stop. This was ridiculous! He’d faced the worst that SAO had to offer; Kuradeel, the King of Ashes, Kayaba, _Fluffles_. None of them had affected him like this. It didn’t make sense, it wasn’t like Oberon was hurting him or killing him. It wasn’t like he was touching Kirito’s real body. It was just an avatar. It wasn’t real…

_And once I laid eyes on you in the hospital-_

Kirito’s stomach lurched again.

It took less time for the nausea to pass the second time, but Kirito was too drained to think about getting back up. But he didn’t want to sit around uselessly waiting for Oberon to return either.

Swiping his left hand through the air, he called up the menu. He scrolled through his character screen and his equipped items, lamenting his lost level. The only equipment he had was what Oberon had dressed him in. The game called it an ‘Alf dancer’s costume.’ No defense, and no enchantments. Of course, Oberon wouldn’t give him anything useful. He closed the character page and pulled up his inventory instead. A part of him expected to find it empty, but he was shocked to find a long long list of items whose names consisted only of question marks.

“...Are these… my items from SAO?”

Right, hadn’t Oberon said he reset Kirito’s level? Not that this was a new character starting from level one, but that it was his high level SAO character reset back to level one. The avatar wasn’t compatible since SAO didn’t have character races but his stats and inventory must have carried over.

“Man, this game’s totally busted,” he murmured. “Too bad I can’t actually do anything with it. If only I had one sword or piece of armor or… MY DAUGHTER!”

Suddenly frantic, Kirito began swiping rapidly though the wall of question marks. If Alfheim Online had bugged out all of his weapons and armor, what had it done to Yui?

His heart leaped into his throat as he came to the one item in his inventory that still had its own name. Desperately he pressed his finger to the item. The menu buzzed, and a new window popped up.

<Inventory locked by system admin. Please contact the system admin in order to remove the lock.>

Kirito clenched his teeth and slammed his fist into the base of the bed.

“ _Consarn it!_ ”

Of course that bastard wouldn’t have just let him access his inventory. He’d thought Yui’s data was safely stored in the local memory of his NerveGear, but if Oberon could just access his items like that…

Kirito closed his inventory, and resolved not to open it again until he was free. His only hope was that Oberon didn’t know about Yui.

* * *

The next time Kirito tried to escape was the very next day. He had no way of telling how close Alfheim Online’s clock was to the real world, but the days felt long and Oberon had come during the day the last time, so Kirito made his next attempt in the dead of digital night. He got further this time before running into those slugs, and increased his level to twelve before he was force teleported back to the cage. Oberon paralyzed him and kicked him around a bit before leaving that time.

The day after Kirito tried during the daytime again. This time instead of going inside he tried scaling the outside of the tree. It was slow going, and less satisfying than shredding his way through Oberon’s slug creatures. There was also the height to think about; he made the mistake of looking down once and had to stop and close his eyes for a bit before the dizziness subsided. He never made it below the cloud barrier before he was force teleported and Oberon beat the hell out of him again.

The fourth attempt came several days later. Oberon continued to visit him every day in between and seemed pleased that Kirito had ‘settled down.’ That didn’t stop Kirito from snapping when he used the name ‘Puck’ and flinging insults in his face. Not that they landed. Oberon seemed at best amused and at worst annoyed. But the worst he did was pet Kirito’s hair and sniff it creepily. After he logged out Kirito snuck out again. He made it to level sixteen that day.

It took another seven attempts before Oberon figured out how Kirito was slipping out and added a force field between the bars of the cage. It sent Kirito flying halfway across the cage when he tried to touch it, but although it hurt like hell it barely did any damage to his hit points. Kirito considered holding on until his hit points hit zero in case the game teleported him to a respawn point for players, before deciding it wasn’t worth the risk he wouldn’t return at all.

Before he knew it, another six weeks had breezed by, and though he’d grown to level forty in that time and instilled the fear of god into Oberon’s slug creatures, he was no closer to actually escaping.

Two months after beating SAO, Kirito sat arms crossed on the patio table with his chin resting on his arms, contemplating how to escape this new game. At this point jumping out of the tree was starting to seem like a viable option. Staring listlessly out beyond the boundaries of his cage, Kirito silently weighed the pros and cons.

A certain annoying voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

“You grow more beautiful every time I visit you, Puck.”

Adopting a glare, Kirito sat up in his seat. Oberon didn’t always log in directly inside the cage. Some days, like today, he came from somewhere inside the tree and walked in through the cage door.

“You should wear that expression more often,” Oberon said as he came to stand behind Kirito. “It suits you.”

“And you should spring for some hearing aids, gramps. I already told you it’s Kirito.”

Oberon placed his hands on Kirito’s shoulders, squeezing them gently, possessively. Kirito tensed but resisted the urge to pull away, not wanting to piss Oberon off in case he was in one of his more violent moods.

“I visited you in the hospital again today, Puck,” Oberon said. One hand left Kirito’s shoulder to run through his silky black hair. “Honestly, you should be grateful I take so much time out of my schedule for you.”

“Oh, don’t go out of your way on my account,” Kirito deadpanned. “You’re a very busy man, clearly. You need some time for yourself; take a spa day, go to a movie, maybe sign up for a dating site. Or get a cat. Seriously, ever think about getting a cat?”

The hand left his hair and Oberon moved around him, taking the opposite chair. Resting his elbows atop the table and his chin atop his interlaced fingers, he leered at his prisoner across the table.

“It’s rather sad really. I have yet to run into anyone else during these visits. I wonder if anyone’s even noticed your absence?” Oberon said. “Honestly, I don’t see why you want to escape so badly. Your ‘parents’ barely acknowledge you, your sister despises you. There’s nothing for you in the real world. If you were to just accept your new lot in life, your future here could be very comfortable.”

That sounded about right. In all honestly, Kirito wasn’t expecting much from his family, and it wasn’t like he’d ever had any friends before SAO. Not that he was especially close with anyone he’d met in game either, and even if any of them had the inclination to visit him in the hospital there was only one person who knew his real life information.

“Oh fudge my family,” Kirito retorted. “But my wife’s waiting for me in the real world and, I gotta tell ya dude, I find her _way_ more attractive than I find you.”

“Your _video game_ wife,” Oberon was quick to remind him. “You don’t really think that _means_ anything do you?”

“Meant something the thirty or so times we consummated our marriage.”

Oberon’s eyebrow twitched.

“You impudent little...” Oberon cleared his throat. “Well, I suppose for a little pissant like you, losing your virginity in the virtual world must seem like a _massive_ accomplishment. Meanwhile, in the real world, you haven’t even had your first kiss yet, while Asuna is my _real_ fiance.”

Kirito’s eyes shot wide open. He was on his feet before he knew it, toppling the chair with his abrupt movement.

“B-but she’s- Th-there’s- there’s no way she would-!”

“Oh, I’ll admit, she didn’t seem particularly enthused about the idea,” Oberon interrupted. “But I have every confidence she’ll be _more_ than happy to walk down the isle when the time comes. After all...”

He stood, stalking towards Kirito with a predatory grin.

“I’m holding all the cards in the palm of my hand.”

Snapping out of his horrified shock, Kirito glared at his captor.

“Holding me here isn’t going to make Asuna marry you. If anything she’ll probably stab you in the throat and record it so she watch it again later.”

“In the event of which, your NerveGear will instantaneously turn your grey matter into a charcoal crisp. Which, I’m sure, would be an improvement.”

Kirito growled.

“But that wasn’t what I was getting at,” Oberon continued. He raised his hand to inspect his nails nonchalantly. “Have I mentioned what an excellent investment the SAO servers were?”

Kirito didn’t answer. His glare only sharpened and his jaw tightened. For a brief instant his gaze flickered over to the gate of the cage. His eyes were back on Oberon before the fairy king could notice them wandering.

“That Kayaba. While he certainly made a misstep or… seven, he was undeniably a genius. Once we’d ironed out the last of his bugs, building Alfheim Online from the bones of SAO was mere child’s play! It really was a fascinating game. A true pioneer in the world of VR. You can’t even imagine the breakthroughs we’ve had just by studying its code. For instance, did you know that it assigned your base stats according to your real life abilities, by scanning your brainwaves and physical condition?”

Rolling his eyes, Kirito said, “Yeah, no shirt. I was a beta tester, of course I knew that.”

“I just find it fascinating,” Oberon said. “Increase your strength stat, and even a child could wield the mightiest of weapons. Increase dexterity, and an amateur can move with the grace of an Olympic gymnast.” He turned his eyes back to Kirito, offering him a wicked grin. “Increase _charisma_...”

Kirito’s eyes widened slowly in horror.

“No...”

“ _Yes!_ ” Oberon hissed. He cupped Kirito’s cheek with one hand, the tender touch at odds with the cruelty on his face. “With a high enough charisma stat, even the most _asinine_ suggestions become _impossible_ to ignore! The fact that it’s even possible speaks volumes of the wasted potential of this technology. To think, he had the power to bend the masses to his will, and he gave it to a bunch of greasy imbeciles begging for _nudes_.”

With an irritated growl, Kirito slapped Oberon’s hand away.

“And I’m sure you have _much_ better uses for it,” Kirito groaned sarcastically.

“Indeed I do my dear Puck!” Oberon exclaimed. “With three hundred test subjects at my disposal – yourself included – I’ll have this technology perfected by week’s end! Thanks to your noble contribution, I shall hold the world in the palm of my hand. And when my dear Titania comes running to your rescue-” He sneered. “-she’ll in fact be running right into my arms. I’ll transform her into a meek, obedient housewife who’ll obey my every whim. Of course, I’ll have to ensure the technology works properly by testing it on someone in the real world first. I already have the perfect guinea pig in mind, _my dear Puck_.”

Kirito’s nails dug into the palms of his hands as he leveled a venomous glare on Oberon. He’d never hated anyone as much as he hated that man in that moment. Not even Kayaba after he’d slashed Asuna. Kayba had only killed her. Oberon was trying to _erase_ her, annihilate everything that made Asuna _herself_. He latched onto that rage and used it to keep the terror from creeping in.

“You’re out of your mind,” he said. “Also, you’re a dumb-ash. Anyone who’s ever seen a Bond movie knows you don’t just _tell_ the hero your evil plan, that’s just asking to get stopped.”

Oberon burst out laughing.

“I’m afraid you’re sadly mistaken if you think you’re the hero of this story. This time around you’re the princess locked away in the tower, at the total mercy of the System Admin.” He whirled around, gesturing towards the sky with both hands. “Go ahead, give it your best shot ‘hero!’ I’ll enjoy watching the look on your face as you claw at the boundaries of your prison only to repeatedly fai-”

He was cut off by the blare of alarms. Whirling around, Oberon found the cage empty, the door which he’d left unlocked standing wide open. Within moments his minions’ screams and Kirito’s manic laughter echoed throughout the World Tree.

With a sigh, Sugou went to put a stop to the rampage and collect his captive.

* * *

Kirito grunted as he was thrown onto the bed, the clanging of the cage door echoing in his ears. Oberon hadn’t bothered paralyzing his time, instead using his maxed out strength to physically overpower Kirito. He squirmed and kicked as Oberon climbed on top of him, pinning his slender wrists to the mattress with ease.

“And just what did that accomplish?” Oberon hissed. “You’re still no closer to escaping and all you’ve managed to do was _annoy_ me.”

“So let me out and you won’t have to deal with me anymore,” Kirito countered.

Oberon moved his knee, shifting it between Kirito’s legs. Kirito stifled a gasp as pressure was applied to his groin. The fairy king lowered his head and Kirito defiantly turned his away, only to let out a weak sound as hot breaths ghosted along the column of his throat. Kirito closed his eyes. He tried to imagine it was Asuna holding him down, but that only made the situation that much worse. She could be rough, but never cruel.

“I was going to wait; let our first time be while you were begging for my touch.” Kirito’s eyes shot open. He could feel Oberon’s lips moving with each word, and a disgusted shudder ran up his spine. “But maybe you need… _breaking in_.”

Kirito fought with renewed strength. His feet kicked against the mattress and his wrists strained against Oberon’s grasp, but the fact of the matter was, even putting aside his admin privileges, Oberon’s numbers were just plain _bigger_ than his. The few meager levels he’d gained fighting the guards were nothing against Oberon’s maxed out stats. Oberon traced his tongue up the side of his neck unhindered, chuckling at Kirito’s obvious distress.

“F-fudge fudge fudge, shirt, fudging shirt, no-” An endless stream of censored cursing poured past Kirito’s lips. He tried to find that fury from before, to grab onto that anger and use it as a shield, but…

He was scared. He was so fucking scared.

He used to feel this way all the time in the real world, helpless and weak. That was why he escaped into his video games in the first place, seeking out a world where he could protect himself and finally dish out the abuse he’d endured for most of his life.

And now, Oberon had stolen his refuge from him. Kirito’s eyes burned but he fought back the tears with every ounce of willpower he had.

“Maybe I should pay a visit to your hospital room.” Oberon pulled back, and released one wrist in order to run his fingers through Kirito’s hair. “I’ve graciously taken it upon myself to pay for your hospitalization. I’ve even had you moved to a private room. That means...” He lifted a handful of dark strands to his nose and inhaled. “We’ll have all of the privacy we need.”

“ _You sick fu-_ ”

Oberon silenced Kirito with a fierce kiss. For just a moment Kirito was frozen, unable to process the slimy appendage invading his mouth. Regaining his senses, he clamped down his teeth with all the strength he could muster. With his maxed out defense and vitality stats however, Oberon was hardly fazed. After what felt like an eternity he finally pulled away, a string of saliva connecting their lips. Oberon grinned as he dove down again and licked Kirito’s lower lip.

“I need to leave now, I have an appointment to keep. But I’m sure you’ll behave while I’m gone, won’t you? After all, if you don’t… Well, I’m sure I don’t need to say it.”

Pulling away, Oberon burst into laughter as Kirito scrambled back along the bed. In spite of his best efforts, Kirito couldn’t stop his body from shaking, or really look even the slightest bit intimidating curled up in a ball against the headboard. He barely noticed when the cage door slammed shut and Oberon immediately logged out. Curling in on himself, he finally let the tears fall.

* * *

The rhythmic beeping of hospital machines was a welcome change from agonized screams or petulant whining. After only a few short weeks in his private hospital room Kirigaya was already looking much healthier, bones no longer jutting out from beneath his pale skin and hair regaining its shiny luster thanks to the expensive treatment. Sugou brushed a stray lock from the boy’s face. It had grown quite a bit in his two years in virtual reality, though it was nowhere near as long as his current avatar’s. Sugou figured he’d have Kirigaya continue growing out his hair once the project was complete. A change of shampoo and new stylist should do the trick.

As obnoxious as the boy was when he was up and about, he painted quite the pretty picture lying in his hospital bed. His limbs were slender and delicate, face feminine, pitch black hair against lovely pale skin. Those hands were soft, having never handled a real weapon in his life. He was no swordsman. More like a pretty doll, completely at Sugou’s mercy. Sugou had only captured him because of his relationship with Asuna, but he considered the boy to be a worthwhile keepsake in his own right. The warmth of his skin was close to what it had been inside of Alfheim Online, but these hands didn’t resist when Sugou traced abstract patterns along the underside of his wrist.

At the sound of the door swinging open, Sugou withdrew his hand. He knew the exact schedule of the nurses looking after his little Puck, so he knew that it wasn’t one of them who’d entered, nor would it be any of his nonexistent friends or uncaring family. However, Sugou had been bending the truth a little when he implied Kirigaya had received no visitors. True, he hadn’t run into her, but that was by design. Sugou had been careful not to run into this one before he was ready. With his project a week away from completion, it was time to set the bait.

Asuna walked into the hospital room holding a vase of flowers, and froze on the spot upon sighting him. Sugou smirked. Reaching up, he removed his glasses from his face and the cleaning cloth from his pocket.

“Now, this is an unexpected surprise,” he lied as he nonchalantly cleaned the lens. He didn’t look at her, instead holding his glasses up to the light inspecting for dust that wasn’t there. “I never expected to see my sweet fiance here.”

“What are you doing here, Sugou?” Asuna demanded. Her knuckles turned white, fingers gripping the flower vase so tight it was a wonder it didn’t shatter into a thousand shards in her hands.

“Me?” Sugou stood, donning a perfectly sincere and gentlemanly expression as he replaced his glasses. “I’m simply paying my respects to the hero who saved my beloved fiance and those other poor souls who’d been trapped in Sword Art Online. I heard his family was struggling with the medical bills so I even offered to take them on myself. I assure you, Asuna, I have nothing but the noblest intentions.”

Asuna growled at him and Sugou couldn’t keep the smirk from his face, recalling how Kirigaya had looked at him like that two months previous. A look that he’d finally replaced with one of shame and terror just hours before. Surely, Asuna would look even more beautiful with the same expression on her face.

“I’m _not_ your fiance,” Asuna spat. “I don’t care how much money you gave my dad, I’m not marrying your skeevy ass.”

She turned her eyes to the boy lying in the hospital bed, her steely gaze growing gentle. A pang of jealousy pierced Sugou’s chest, but he’d admit, he was starting to grow a genuine soft spot for his prisoner as well.

“I’m already married,” Asuna continued. “And as soon as he wakes up we’re getting married in this world as well.”

Sugou watched her, smile never wavering. As defiant as she was, she had no idea she already belonged to him. She and her ‘husband’ both.

“Unless of course, he doesn’t wake up.”

Asuna’s eyes snapped towards him, once again filled with hate. Sugou took a seat again, but this time on the side of the hospital bed. Asuna watched, stunned, as he placed a gentle hand on Kirigaya’s forehead and brushed aside his bangs.

“He’s rather cute when he’s silent, don’t you think?” Sugou asked.

Flames burned behind Asuna’s eyes.

“Personally,” Sugou continued, reveling in her helpless anger, “I think he’s preferable this way. No wisecracks or nonsensical babbling. It’s tempting to just… keep him in this state, wouldn’t you say?”

His answer was the sound of glass shattering, water and flowers spilling over the floor as Asuna held the vase by its rim and smashed it into the wall. Quick as a flash, she’d rounded the bed and grabbed Sugou by his tie, holding the jagged edge of the vase to his chest. Sugou’s breath caught in his throat as she glared up at him with eyes that said she fully intended to end his life right then and there.

“If you lay another goddamn hand on him I will remove your head from your body and turn it into a fashionable handbag!” she hissed.

Sugou swallowed. When he spoke, his voice was a pitch higher than it should have been.

“Do it and he’s dead.”

That gave her pause, and Sugou smirked as her grip on his tie loosened just the slightest bit.

“You’re aware, I assume, that it was on my suggestion that doddering old fool you call your father bought up SAO’s servers and kept them running? I convinced him that in doing so RCT Progress would benefit both in public image _and_ technological superiority, meaning… C’mon Asuna, fill in the blank.”

Her glare didn’t waver for a second, but little by little, Asuna lowered the broken vase.

“So you kept us alive, so what?”

“Well, I just think I’m owed a little _gratitude_ is all,” Sugou replied. “Despite the fact that Kirigaya _far_ overstepped the bounds of his class and _dared_ consider himself worthy of your affections, I’m still _generously_ paying for the treatments that are keeping him from death’s door. However, should you continue to deny me, I can’t say for certain whether or not this generous mood will last.”

For just a moment, a sliver of a second, fear flashed across Asuna’s face. Sugou leaned in closer, breathing in her delicious scent.

“Do you understand what I’m getting at, A-su-na? If you don’t start playing nice-”

Alarms blared as with a feral snarl Asuna dropped the broken vase and grabbed the front of Sugou’s suit, shoving him backwards into the machines Kirigaya was strapped to. Blood spurted from his arm where needles were ripped out and within seconds nurses and hospital staff were rushing into the room.

“YOU TOUCH ONE HAIR ON HIS HEAD AND I’M GONNA BE WEARING YOUR GUTS LIKE MY MOM’S PASHMINA!” Asuna roared as hands pulled her off of Sugou. She continued to claw at him, making all four of the people holding her struggle to drag her away an inch at a time. “I WILL MAKE YOU EXPERIENCE PAIN AND TORMENT UNLIKE ANYTHING YOU COULD POSSIBLY IMAGINE! YOUR BODY WILL BE TORN APART PIECE. BY. PIECE. AS YOU BEG FOR A MERCY THAT WILL _NEVER_ COME! I WILL ADD YOUR SCREAMS TO MY GODDAMN SPOTIFY AND I WILL PERSONALLY _MOUNT YOUR HEAD ON A FUCKING PIKE!_ ”

Sugou’s face was pale and he could feel a bead of sweat roll down the side of his face as he watched the hospital security drag his fiance away. He couldn’t collect himself until she was out of sight, and even then he could hear her screams of fury all the way down the hall.

Sucking in a deep breath, Sugou straightened his glasses and his tie. While that hadn’t gone quite as he’d expected, he’d accomplished what he set out to do. The bait was set. The nurses hurried to replace Kirigaya’s IVs and clean up the broken glass, overlooking him altogether.

Three weeks ago, a certain image had appeared on a certain VRMMO message board. Not a photo, a screenshot. Of a black-haired fairy trapped within a golden birdcage, sunlight glistening on their long black locks as they flowed in the breeze. It was a rather lovely image, despite having been taken by amateurs, and Sugou had even contemplated using it as a promotional image for Alfheim Online. Kirigaya had no idea the picture had even been taken, and as of yet no one had connected the image to the comatose Hero of Aincrad. But now that he’d planted the idea in her head, Asuna was bound to connect Kirigaya’s condition to RCT Progress, and as soon as she started looking into them it wouldn’t take long for her to come across Alfheim Online, or that image. There was a reason he hadn’t changed Kirigaya’s face or appearance in game beyond his hairstyle.

The hospital room was a frenzy of activity, but time seemed to stand still for Sugou as he gazed at Kirigaya’s peaceful form in the hospital bed, silently thanking him for being such a useful pawn.

* * *

Puck was nice and submissive when Oberon paid him a visit the next day, sitting quietly on the bed as the fairy king played with his hair. Oberon would admit, he was just slightly disappointed; he’d had a rather nice fantasy of watching the fight fade from the brat’s eyes as he used the finished brainwashing technology on him, but this was nice too.

Kirito was compelling broken.

“There’s no need to pout, kitten,” Oberon teased as he undid one of the braids in his slave’s hair, just so he could weave it back in again. “Are you still mad I was so rough on you yesterday? It wouldn’t be necessary if you would just learn to behave.”

“I dunno what you expect, there’s nothing for me to do in this friggin’ cage _but_ try to escape,” Puck retorted. “Assaulting your guards is about the only fun I get in this place.”

“Ah yes, that reminds me...” Oberon finished the braid and then pulled Puck’s hair back over his shoulder, baring the smooth, pale skin of his neck. That was his favorite part of his new toy’s body. Puck’s throat was just perfect for kissing and biting. “You’ve been laying into the poor boys quite a lot and, well, their psyche bills are really starting to pile up. Especially Shouji. I don’t know what you have against him specifically, but he’s starting to take it personally.”

That got a smile out of Puck, and a malicious chuckle.

“Oh yeah, he’s lots of fun to mess with. Is Shouji in today?”

Before Oberon could answer, Shouji was suddenly shrieking from somewhere below the birdcage.

“NO! I-I, uh, I mean…” Shouji cleared his throat audibly, and then continued in a higher pitched voice, “Shouji’s out sick today!”

Oberon sighed. Releasing Puck’s hair, he flopped backwards onto the bed. He’d programmed it to be extra comfortable, just for Titania, but so far Puck hadn’t made much use of it. Quite the shame.

“Well, I suppose if you’re really that bored I can pay you some extra attention. With the project nearly finished I’m about to have a lot more free time on my hands. Plenty to lavish you with the affection you so desperately crave.”

“Seriously; get a cat.”

“Oh, that could be a fun one. The boys in the lab actually have designed a pet protocol. It’s a happy medium between an actual house cat and _hardcore porn_. I think that one would suit you rather nicely, _kitten_.”

Puck said nothing, but Oberon didn’t miss the way he hunched his shoulders ever so slightly. Yes, this boy was quite a bit more fragile in spirit than his Asuna, even if he tried to act otherwise.

“You may be interested to know,” Oberon continued when Puck remained silent, “that we detected a new account logging in from Asuna’s NerveGear last night.”

That got a reaction. Puck’s head snapped around so quickly that his hair fanned behind him.

“She what?”

Sitting up, he tucked Puck’s hair behind his pointed ear.

“I ran into her in the hospital last night, while I was visiting you. She was oh so worried about her little boy toy. And I may or may not have dropped a few breadcrumbs for her to follow.”

He could feel Puck’s gaze on him as he rose from the bed, following him as he walked towards the center of the cage to sit at the table.

“No doubt she thinks she’s going to come charging in here to save you. In reality she’ll be placing herself exactly where I want her; right in the palm of my hand. By the time she reaches this place my research shall be complete and I’ll turn you both into my mindless, devoted servants.” Oberon grinned, sharp and cruel. “I’m _so_ looking forward to it; how about you, my dear Puck?”

“...Oh yeah, I’m really lookin’ forward to it.”

That wasn’t the reaction he was expecting. Oberon raised an eyebrow as Puck locked eyes with him, expression no longer docile. The fire was back in his eyes and he bared his teeth in a wicked smirk.

“I’m looking forward to watching your guts rain down to the bottom of the tree.”

“…Beg pardon?”

Puck stood.

“Toldja to spring for those hearing aids, _gramps_ ,” he replied, voice growing more firm, “I said I’m looking forward to ripping your guts out with my bare hands and chucking them out the window like a mid-century peasant on laundry day.”

“’Like a peasant’ is about the only correct thing you’ve said,” Oberon said. He stood as well, looming over Puck. But there was no flinching or trembling this time, no hint of the submissive attitude from moments ago. “Need I remind you that I am your _king!_ Before the might of the system admin you’re less than a speck of dust on the bottom of my boots! You can scream and curse and tear apart my men piece by piece-”

Shouji’s whimpers echoed from the World Tree.

“-but you are _powerless_ to stop me!”

He was met with silence. Once again, Oberon found himself standing in an empty cage. Barely half a second, he’d _blinked_ and Puck was gone. Again. Oberon groaned as sirens filled the air, topped only by Shouji’s screams of terror.

“…Slippery little devil, isn’t he?” A sigh. “Ah well, that spirit will be fun to break. System command; Force teleport Player ID: Kirito. Location ID: Titania’s Cage.”

A pillar of blue pixels appeared before him and Puck re-materialized holding chunks of purple slug. He didn’t look at all surprised by the sudden change of scenery.

“Are you quite proud of yourself?”

“Actually, yeah. I am.”

Oberon’s eyes narrowed.

“System command; set Player ID: Kirito pain absorption to level five.”

Puck tensed as a window popped open, the scale sliding down from the eight he’d had it set at to five. He didn’t want it so low he’d scar his new toy’s real body, and he’d save the harsher punishments for continued disobedience. Smirking, he watched as Puck visibly braced himself for the pain. So, he _could_ be taught.

Oberon’s hand shot out and seized a handful of hair.

“Ow, hey!”

Ignoring his prisoner’s protests, Oberon dragged him over towards the bars of the cage. He threw Puck against the force field and instantly a shower of purple sparks lit up the cage. A strangled scream tore itself from Puck’s throat before he choked the sound back, struggling in vain as Oberon held him in place. His hit points dwindled slowly but steadily as the violet light ate away at his health.

That pained expression was cute too. But then Puck cracked an eye open and, as though he weren’t in an enormous amount of agony, cracked a grin.

“H-harder, daddy.”

He was being sarcastic, but those words went straight to Oberon’s groin.

With an irritated snarl, Oberon ripped Puck away from the force field and threw him across the cage. Puck hit the ground hard, unable to hide a pained grunt. His health had dropped to the yellow and purple sparks danced across his avatar’s form. But that defiant expression remained fixed in place nonetheless. Even when Oberon delivered a vicious kick to the side of his head and then another one and then a third. He kept kicking, reveling in Puck’s pained grunts.

“You’re bringing this all on yourself you little rat! I didn’t want to hurt you but you’re not giving me much of a choice here!” He punctuated his sentence by bringing his foot down on Puck’s skull and grinding his face into the tile. “Honestly, I didn’t have to be so kind! I could have just dropped you in the center of a high level dungeon without any weapons or armor and left you to rot. Instead I draped you in finery and gave you this _beautiful_ luxury cage meant for my _queen!_ ”

“You k-keep the g-g-gift receipt?”

Speaking proved to be a great strain for his poor Puck with the amount of pain he was in. Oberon gave him one last kick for good measure. Then he knelt, tenderly cupping the side of Puck’s face.

“Honestly, I thought you’d learned your lesson last night.” He traced his thumb along Puck’s lower lip, then slid it past his lips. “Resisting me is futi-”

Puck snapped his teeth and Oberon snatched his hand back, instinct winning out.

“You little...”

With sluggish, pained movements, Puck pushed himself into a semi-sitting position. The electrical damage from the force field had applied a few scattered scorch marks across his avatar’s skin, but those were already fading as his hit points slowly regenerated.

Meeting Oberon’s gaze, Puck spat, “I may not be able to beat you, but I’m sure as shirt not going to make it easy for you either. Do whatever you want, I can make darn sure you don’t _get_ to _enjoy it!_ ”

“Oh, is that what you think? System command; apply status effect: Paralyze to Player ID: Kirito.”

Puck flopped over like a rag doll. Oberon wasted no time in wrapping a hand around his throat and lifting him from the floor, dragging his limp, pliant body over to the bed. Maybe he should just leave him like this all the time, keep him in a constant state of paralysis. But then, it wouldn’t be as much _fun_ if his little Puck couldn’t _participate_. Climbing onto the bed, Oberon ran his hands along Puck’s sides, lowering his mouth to Puck’s throat.

Then he stopped.

Puck hadn’t turned his head away. He could feel the slight tremors underneath his fingertips, but Puck’s eyes remained locked on his, narrowed into an icy glare, teeth bared in an animalistic snarl. No terror. No shame. Oberon frowned.

“You know what?” he sighed, pulling himself up. “I’m not in the mood. Keep struggling all you want. I assure you, by week’s end you’ll be _begging_ for me to fork you senseless.”

He called up the menu and scrolled down to the logout button.

“Farewell, my dear Puck. I look forward to our next visit.”

* * *

The second Oberon was gone, Kirito broke. His chest heaved as he sucked in rapid, deep breaths, air feeling far too thin and saliva pooling in the back of his throat. The paralysis made it worse, the loss of control over his own body sending him spiraling into a full on panic attack. He barely noticed when the effect finally wore off and he curled into a fetal position without realizing, choking back gross sobs.

He’d been so sure that would be it; that Oberon would finally go through with raping him. His sides itched and tingled where Oberon’s hands had been, like there were ants crawling underneath the surface of his skin.

God, he was pathetic. The sun had long since set by the time he managed to regain his composure enough to sit up. Asuna would probably be disgusted if she saw him in this state. Still, he couldn’t afford to let himself give in to the creepy fuck just yet. Whether he fought back or not, Oberon was going to do as he pleased. But Asuna was on her way. No doubt she wouldn’t rest until she’d found him, and walked right into Oberon’s trap. He might have been powerless to protect himself, but there was still something he could do to protect her.

Rising on shaky legs, Kirito made his way to the center of the cage. He grabbed one of the patio chairs and, envisioning Oberon’s screaming face, hurled it with all of his might at the bars. Brilliant violet sparks filled his vision and the chair sprang back, nearly clocking Kirito in the face. For a brief instant there was a hole in the force field. It was a tight squeeze but Kirito managed to dive through.

Right into the open air.

For a few moments he was weightless, suspended by nothing as his wings fluttered uselessly behind him. His stretched out his hands as far as they could reach as gravity caught up with him and he plummeted down, passing clouds and spiraling tree branches. At last his fingers met wood, nails straining and ripping as they bit into the bark and left pixelated streaks while gravity dragged the rest of his body down. Kirito’s heart lurched into his throat. He stopped just dangling from the bottom of a twisted branch. Another few inches and he’d have fallen to his death. Ignoring the pain in his fingers Krito clawed his way up little by little, heart pounding away in his ears all the while.

Knowing Asuna, she’d be knocking at Oberon’s gate with an army at her back soon enough. Kirito hauled himself up onto the tree branch. Not taking a moment to rest, he pulled himself to his feet and ran for the nearest entrance to the VR lab. He could delay Oberon’s research for a week.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Abridged Kirito's so much more fun to hurt than canon Kirito, but he'd probably be better at the snappy comments than this. Even though this is an abridged series fanfic, it really is more drama than comedy. At first I was going to write this for the canon series, until I rewatched a few episodes of the abridged series. That's the reason the character creation screen Kirito saw in the beginning doesn't have that cringy, hand-holdy aspect to it. I'm just gonna say it's the creation screen Sugou uses for himself and his employees which is separate from the standard players' character creation screen.
> 
> I do have plans to write a part two that shows what Asuna was doing before and what she does after getting kicked out of Kirito's hospital room. Can't say for certain how long that'll take, however, real life takes precedent. If you're interested, leave a comment. Validation fuels me.


	2. The Dove

Even a whole month after the end of Sword Art Online, Asuna still had nightmares. All the deaths she’d witnessed playing out right before her eyes, men and women under her command dropping like insects. Only in her nightmares, they didn’t splinter apart into pixelated shards. Hardened soldiers died still screaming as Sheeptaur’s acid melted them down to their bones. Blood sprayed from flying body parts as the Skull Reaper’s scythes cleaved through them, this time with no glitch to save their asses. The personification of death itself sliced her daughter’s fragile body clean down the center with its scythe, Yui turning to smile at her one last time before the blood welled to the surface and both halves collapsed into a pile of gore.

And Kirito. Suffering.

Kirito lying on his back with multiple stab wounds in his chest, blood bubbling up from his mouth as Kuradeel brought his sword down over, and over, and over again.

Kirito’s broken body hanging from Gleam Eyes’s claws as the gigantic monster tore his head off with its teeth.

Kirito alone in some dark place, stripped of his sword, covered in so much blood and bruises he was barely recognizable. His mouth was open in a scream, but Asuna couldn’t hear him. He was reaching out for her, but when she tried to grab onto him he slipped right through her fingers. He disappeared, bursting apart into a spray of blood-red mist, and she was helpless to do anything about it…

* * *

Asuna woke with a start, breathing like she’d just sprinted a marathon. Or finished a day of physical therapy. She was draped halfway off of her bed, legs still on the mattress but head on the floor, and there was a weird chunky feeling under her fingernails. As her eyes slowly adjusted to the dark she raised her hands for inspection and found she had small bits of wood embedded under her nails from apparently gouging up pieces of her hardwood floor in her sleep.

...Maybe Kirito’d had a point about her night terrors. Ugh, she couldn’t believe that she – even privately – admitted Kirito had a point about something.

The thought of her husband brought the dream flooding back and Asuna felt her stomach lurch.

Knowing there would be no return to sleep anytime soon after that nightmare, Asuna swung her legs off of the mattress and sat up on the floor. Her room felt so dark and empty compared to the cozy little cabin the commander had gifted her and Kirito, even when she clapped and the lights flicked on. It was sparsely decorated, all sleek modern furniture that was immaculately dusted and polished by the cleaning staff on a daily basis. Bookshelves and desk filled with an abundance of study materials but bare of anything personal or relating to her interests, the only thing hanging from her wall a calendarthat was only used for setting study dates.

It was all so stale compared to the death world she’d left behind. Why did escaping feel like the worst mistake she’d ever made?

A knock at the door snapped Asuna from her thoughts.

“Asuna? My angel, are you alright in there?” her father’s voice called through the door. “I thought I heard screaming.”

“Y-yeah! I’m alright dad!” Asuna called back, scrambling to her feet and smoothing her pajamas. “Just had a bad dream.”

“Ah, that’s a relief. Now then, if you wouldn’t mind-” Her father’s gentle voice turned cold, and then cruel. “-shutting your mouth and letting the rest of us get some sleep?! Not all of us can be in a coma for two years you little parasite!”

Asuna glared at the door.

“...I changed my mind. I want to live with Mom instead.”

* * *

Physical therapy was actual torture for Asuna. After two years of wielding a sword in actual life and death battles against monsters and occasionally even against real people, she hated how her muscles seemed to lag behind her mind, growing tired so much more quickly than she was used too. Even with the expensive treatment that kept her body healthy while she was comatose it felt like she was wearing an ill-fitting puppet.

She’d had to fight and beg for them, but once she was cleared from physical therapy Asuna managed to convince her parents to let her sign up for fencing classes, though the foil they had her using felt flimsy compared to her old rapier. Still, it was the closest she could get towards becoming her SAO self. Her real self. Since she couldn’t sleep, Asuna pulled her fencing equipment out of her closet and went to the gym to work off her energy. Her father had spent a ton of money on the room to get in shape right after the divorce was announced, and then proceeded to never use it, so she knew she’d have some privacy. She spent hours practicing her form, both the ones her private instructor had drilled into her and ones she’d brought over from SAO. With each strike she visualized a demon from her nightmares, and slew them with ruthless precision.

Eventually the sun began to rise over the horizon. Asuna was determined to keep going strong, but she was drenched in sweat, her muscles protesting each little movement. It was another reminder of how weak this world had made her. She’d never gotten fatigued like this in SAO.

A hot shower was just what her aching body needed. After changing into a white sweater and red skirt, she headed downstairs for a quick breakfast. Breezing right by her father, who was sat at the head of the table with a cup of coffee and tablet in hand, she found a meal waiting for her in the kitchen. The kitchen staff had prepared a beautiful western-style breakfast; fluffy scrambled eggs and crisp bacon, waffles topped with strawberries and whipped cream and drizzled with chocolate, a tower of lemon, blueberry, and poppy seed muffins, and a pitcher of chilled orange juice with slices of citrus floating at the top of the drink. Asuna snatched a piece of toast from her plate and shoved it in her mouth. It was golden brown but she wasn’t surprised when the taste of charcoal hit her tongue. Holding the bread between her teeth she ran out of the kitchen, making a beeline for the front door.

“Oh, Asuna. Can you wait a moment?”

With her hand on the doorknob and one heel hanging off the back of her shoe, Asuna paused. She hadn’t just imagined her dad’s voice, had she? But no, he’d put the tablet down and was looking right at her. She removed the bread from her mouth and turned to properly face him, awkwardly trying to shuffle her shoe on properly as she did.

“Can this wait dad? I have somewhere to be.”

“No, it can’t.” He frowned at her. “I hope you didn’t forget that Versace is coming over today.”

She stared at him blankly, waiting for him to either correct himself or burst out into laughter and reveal it was a joke. He did neither.

“...Are you… talking about the fashion brand?”

“ _Your fiance!_ ”

“You mean Nobuyuki Sugou?”

“You’ve been putting off this lunch for weeks now,” her father continued as though she hadn’t spoken. “Don’t you think it’s time for this silliness to end? Versace is a respectable gentleman who’s offering a hefty sum for your hand in marriage and, let’s face it princess, eligible suitors aren’t exactly knocking down your door-”

“I’m already married!” Asuna snapped.

“In a video game!” her father countered. “I hardly think that counts.”

“Fine; then we’ll get married in real life. Happy?”

Her answer was a bout of hysterical laughter.

“I’m serious!” Asuna shouted. “I don’t want to marry that- that- that _disgusting creeper_ you picked out for me. I’ll figure out what I have to do so that I can marry Kirito in the hospital as soon as he wakes up!”

“And when, pray tell, will that be?” her father demanded. “It’s been a month since that ridiculous game ended and your pretend husband hasn’t woken up in all that time. Clock’s ticking. You won’t be getting younger, sweetie.”

“Wow; I can’t _begin_ to imagine why mom left you.”

Her father leaped up from his chair with a look of rage.

“Now see here-”

The slamming of the front door interrupted him.

* * *

Asuna decided to go for a long walk to clear her head before heading to the hospital. The last thing she wanted to do was visit Kirito in a bad mood. She wasn’t quite sure it had worked, however, as the receptionist turned a little pale when Asuna walked through the door and her hands didn’t stop shaking the entire time she signed Asuna in.

The first time she’d visited Kirito he’d looked awful. His family was significantly less wealthy than hers and could only afford the bare minimum medical care to keep him alive. About two weeks prior, however, the nurses informed Asuna that an anonymous donor had taken over paying for his medical expenses, presumably in a show of gratitude for defeating Kayaba and putting an end to the SAO incident. He’d since been moved into a private room, which suited Asuna just fine. She wanted to be able to visit him without a constant stream of well wishers passing by.

As she pulled back the curtain, Asuna felt her breath momentarily stolen from her. Sometimes it was hard to believe it was really her husband lying in that hospital bed, silent and still as death. If not for the steady beating of the heart monitor she might have thought he was gone already. He was, however, looking marginally better than he had two weeks ago. His skin had regained a little color, and though he was still dangerously underweight he’d put on at least a few pounds since her first visit.

“Look at you, snoozin’ like a sexy little baby,” Asuna murmured, a wry smile tugging at her lips. Kirito had given her so much shit for that. That ass. “Who knew all it took to get you to shut up was a little coma? You should’ve done it… ages ago…”

She trailed off as the first tears began to fall. Damn it. She thought she was done with this part. When she’d woken up in the hospital the first thing she’d done was ask about Kirito. Kazuto Kirigaya. The nurses and doctors had to physically restrain her from climbing out of bed with all of those wires and tubes still attached in order to go looking for him. She’d thought the nightmare was over and their lives together could begin for real. But Kirito never woke up, and between her parents’ fighting and Sugou’s proposal, reality had become a living hell.

“I hate you,” Asuna whispered, not bothering to wipe the tears away. “I hate you for doing this to me over and over again. But I’ll let you off the hook if you just… _wake up_ goddammit.”

But mostly she hated there was no bad guy she could defeat in order to fix things this time. All she could do was sit on her hands and trust in the doctors and scientists to figure out what was wrong with him.

If there was one thing Asuna didn’t handle well, it was feeling useless.

* * *

Asuna’s visit lasted several hours, and she killed a little extra time after walking around the city, just in case. Luck willing, Sugou would grow sick of waiting for her and leave. She checked out the shops nearby to see which ones sold flowers; during her visit she’d noticed the flowers she’d placed in Kirito’s room were starting to wilt, and she wanted to bring him a fresh bouquet in person next time rather than just having them delivered. It was late afternoon before she decided it was safe enough to return home.

Unfortunately, as she snuck in through the guest garage she found his car still parked. Weighing the pros and cons, Asuna decided she wasn’t going to be run out of her own home by that creep. She’d just… try to sneak up to her room without letting him or her father notice she’d returned.

She’d barely made it in the side door that connected the kitchen to the outside when a certain slimy voice sent tremors up her voice.

“Ah, there you are my sweet Asuna.”

Asuna turned to find Sugou leaning against the door frame, arms crossed over his chest and a smug grin pulling at his lips.

“Ugh, what do you want, Sugou?” she demanded. He raised an eyebrow.

“Now now, is that any way to speak to your loving fiance?” he asked, voice dripping with sarcasm. “After all, I did wait a whole. Four. _Hours_. When you didn’t show up for our scheduled lunch date.”

“Next time, just don’t show up,” Asuna growled. Her cover was blown anyway, no point in being subtle anymore. She moved to storm past him. “How many times do I have to say it; I’m not interested. I will never be interested. And if you keep up with all this sleazy crap I will physically. Hurt you.”

A firm hand on her shoulder stopped Asuna in place. Her venomous glare hardly seemed to faze him as he leaned in close enough that she could feel his breath on her cheek.

“Oh come now Asuna, do you think you’re still in Sword Art Online? You’d hardly be able to-”

Asuna grabbed his hand in a vice grip and yanked his arm back at a severe angle. He yelped and struggled to pull free. When Asuna decided he’d suffered enough and loosened her grip he ripped it back and cradled his aching limb with a pout.

“Touch me again, and I’m keeping the arm,” she warned.

Sugou grumbled, failing to stifle a few choice curses, before he regained some semblance of composure. Even so, the pained look didn’t completely pass.

“I don’t see why you’re so opposed to this. Honestly, what more could you want in a husband? With my financial stability you’d never have to lift another finger, except of course in the kitchen and the bedroom-”

“Do you _really_ want to piss me off in a room full of knives?” Asuna brushed past him. “And for the record, I’m in love with someone else.”

Sugou scoffed.

“Love? Oh please. Like that will gain you anything in the long run. Does your Kirigaya have any real prospects for the future?”

Asuna froze mid-step. Whirling on her foot, she found Sugou grinning like the cat that had swallowed the canary.

“Of course he doesn’t; he’s a nobody from an unimportant family with no real skills or redeeming values to speak of. In fact, if he were to disappear off of the face of the Earth, I hardly think anyone would care.”

With every word he spoke, a little more red bled into Asuna’s vision. He kept going, oblivious to the true nature of the beast he was poking.

“And after two years spent trapped in a fantasy world, your prospects aren’t looking so good either. High school is no longer a certainty, and you can forget about college. If you were to marry me, however, I would take care of you for the rest of your life. I’d shower you with fine clothes and jewelry and treasure you like my most prized possession. So my dear Asuna, what do you say?”

“Eat shit,” Asuna answered. She turned her back, and began to walk away. “Then when it comes out the other end, get on your hands and knees and eat that too.”

* * *

Needless to say, Asuna’s father wasn’t exactly happy when he heard about how she’d treated ‘Versace.’

“How _dare_ you speak to your fiance like that!”

She rolled her eyes.

“-after he so kindly compensated me for your medical expenses-”

Grabbed a bag from her closet, some clothes, her NerveGear, and foil.

“-good man offering you a good future-”

Called a friend of a friend.

“-or you can just get out of my house!”

With her bag packed and a destination in mind, Asuna stared down her father.

“Fine then,” she said, feeling like herself for the first time in a month. “I will.”

* * *

The cafe was fairly out of the way, a well hidden secret in the heart of an otherwise dilapidated neighborhood. A placard on the door read ‘Dicey Cafe’ below an embossed pair of bronze dice. Asuna was well aware she looked out of place with her expensive clothing and designer bag, but she held her head high as she approached the cafe and banged on the door.

A pause, then a voice from inside.

“What’s the password?”

Asuna sighed.

“I already promised to stop. Do we really have to do this every time?” she asked. No answer. With a groan, she shifted her bag so that it was hanging off of her shoulder and placed one hand over her heart and the other in the air. “I, Asuna Yuuki, being of sound mind and body, do solemnly swear to never for the rest of my days use jive turkey speak again. I shall also never refer to the owner of this cafe as T-dog, T-fizzle, T-pain, or any variation thereof.”

Nothing.

“...I also shall defer to the cafe owner’s judgment on what is and is not racist, and not my father’s.”

The door clicked open.

The cafe was rarely busy, especially at this time of day. Asuna had made it just before closing and as she stepped inside Tiffany closed and locked the door behind her.

“Thanks for putting me up for the night,” she said, offering him a sincere smile. “I promise, I’ll find something else by tomorrow night.”

Tiffany sighed.

“Yeah, well, I couldn’t just let a young girl sleep out on the streets by herself… Not even you. Apartment’s upstairs, but if you’re hungry you can hang out downstairs for a while and I’ll make something.”

Asuna shook her head.

“No, no I’m good. I’m just… tired. I, uh…” She paused. “I had a rough day.”

Tiffany watched her, taking in the expression on her face. Then he let out a resigned sigh.

“Do you, uh… Want to talk about it? Or something? Jesus, why am I even asking…?”

Because he was a good person, Asuna didn’t say aloud. But she also knew he didn’t want to play therapist and she didn’t want to dump her issues on him, so she shook her head.

“No, you don’t have to do that. I mean, what girl’s dad _doesn’t_ try to sell her to a rapist at one point or another?”

Whoops, how did that slip out? Asuna tried to laugh it off, to kick that emotional bottle back under the bed where it belonged, but the damage had been done. Tiffany’s jaw dropped. Actually dropped. Asuna had never seen a person’s jaw do that in real life before. After several tense moments he finally shouted:

“ _THE FUCK!?_ ”

* * *

In spite of her initial reluctance, Asuna ended up spilling her guts. She told Tiffany everything; her parents’ divorce, her dad’s betrayal, Sugou’s general creepiness. And in spite of _his_ initial reluctance, he listened raptly. He offered her a cup of something called Nine-Up which she dumped into a nearby plant when he wasn’t looking.

“Yeah, no, I’m not sending you back to your sperm donor after that,” he assured her. “Stay as long as you need to.”

“Hey, I can take care of myself. I swiped a few of my dad’s credit cards on the way out. He’s always blowing his money on stupid crap and hardly ever checks his bank statements. If I use them to rent a hotel room for a few weeks he won’t notice the difference, I just need time to actually find a place.”

“Didn’t you say your folks split? Why not stay with your mom?”

“She’s out of the country for a few months on ‘business.’” And by business, Asuna meant celebrating her divorce by spitefully indulging in the money her lawyers had managed to pry out of her husband’s miserly grip. “I will when she gets back.”

“Mmm, yeah, I still don’t think you should be usin’ your old man’s credit cards willy nilly. Electronic purchases can be tracked. Just… Just stay here ‘til your mom gets back, and save the cards for emergencies.”

Could she really do that? Neither her father nor Sugou knew about Tiffany’s cafe, but if they did come looking there and found him harboring her, they could absolutely ruin him. Even if her dad didn’t think to watch his electronic purchases, Sugou might. He was a skeev but he wasn’t completely stupid.

“I mean, I still don’t know. Maybe if I got a job?”

That earned her a bout of hysterical laughter from Tiffany. He kept laughing right up until he noticed Asuna’s glare.

“Oh, you’re serious?” He raised an eyebrow. “Have you ever worked before?”

“I mean… noooo… But I was the vice commander of the Knights of the Blood Oath! I mean how hard could it be to manage a local bank branch or something?”

Tiffany stared at her.

“You… don’t know what an entry level job is, do you?” he asked with a sigh. “How ‘bout this; you know how to cook? Or at least make a cup of coffee?”

Asuna had never touched a cooking utensil in her life that wasn’t a) virtual or b) she wasn’t using to threaten Sugou.

“I… could learn? I mean, I did go from never having played an MMO in my life to being one of SAO’s top players.”

Tiffany didn’t exactly look convinced, but he sighed and said, “Right, I guess I could use some extra help around the cafe. If you’re up for it, I could hire you. Least that way you could get some working experience and I’ll take some rent outta your pay so you don’t have to feel like I’m doing you a favor.”

Asuna supposed that could work. If she was earning some money on her own at least she wouldn’t have to worry so much about being tracked… Of course, she’d have to replace her cell phone – she’d already removed the battery – but she could save up for a new one and get that taken care of eventually, and if Sugou did track her to Tiffany’s cafe she could just say he was some guy who hired her and not a friend helping her out.

“Alright,” she said. “I’ll take you up on that. Thanks T- Tiffany.”

* * *

As it turned out, Asuna was a complete disaster in a real kitchen. She was so bad that Tiffany was actually impressed; as he put it, he’d never tasted anything that was simultaneously over-seasoned and bland. Each failed attempt only made Asuna that much more determined to produce something edible. It didn’t help, however, that without a sense of taste or smell she could taste test none of it. In SAO she’d picked up cooking because it was a simple enough skill to build and she liked the meals she could make for herself out of ingredients she found out in the field better than the boring rations most NPC-run groceries sold. Now _everything_ tasted like those rations. She’d hoped in the real world her sense of taste would be returned to her and kept trying to compensate by adding more salt, more spices, more _anything_ in pursuit of a flavor strong enough to overcome her handicap. All that accomplished was laying up poor Tiffany in bed with food poisoning for four days. She mostly stuck to wiping down the counters and serving customers after that.

Despite that unfortunate setback, he was still good enough to buy her a cellphone, deducting the cost from her paycheck of course.

And she continued to visit Kirito in her time off, with Tiffany accompanying her on occasion. She talked to him about moving in with Tiffany, her cooking lessons, how she’d kept up her fencing practice on her own time, practicing moves in the alley behind Dicey Cafe. She held his hand while she talked, or stroked his hair even though the NerveGear still strapped onto his head made it difficult to properly brush out of his face.

Another month passed. Kirito still hadn’t woken up, but little by little his health was returning.Most days Asuna felt almost okay.

With the money from her new job, Asuna couldn’t afford the more exotic or expensive bouquets she used to bring him, but as the flowers in his room continued to wilt she brought in more to replace them. On the two month anniversary of the end of Sword Art Online she brought simple but elegant arrangement of white camellias and a type of tulip called ‘black heroes.’ Asuna thought it was fitting. Flowers in hand, Asuna made her way up to his floor, ready to regale Kirito’s unconscious body with the story of her latest cooking attempt.

And then she saw Sugou sitting at Kirito’s bedside.

* * *

“And then they kicked me out! Can you believe that!? I’m his _wife_ , I have more right to be there than fucking _Sugou!”_

The second she’d returned to the cafe, Asuna’s aura of barely contained rage had scared away the few customers they actually had. Then she parked herself at the bar and proceeded to unleash a furious rant that left Tiffany helpless to do anything but stand there and take it. Which he did. Like a champ. He poured himself a drink and sipped it while he let her vent.

“That goddamnsleaze, how low does he have to be to go after someone in a fucking _coma_ to get at me! He’d better hope he doesn’t run into me in a dark alley ‘cause next time I see him I’m going to flay him alive and send his skin suit to his grieving mother!”

“Yeah, I just can’t figure out why they kicked you out,” he said. Then flinched at the glare she shot him. “Whaddya want me to say? As far as the hospital staff are concerned you’re the crazy girl who assaulted a man in public, and he’s the guy who’s paying for Kiri’s hospital bill.”

Asuna hated to admit it, but he had a point.

“I just...” She grit her teeth, then forced herself to relax, hands already aching from how tightly she’d been clenching them. “What is he even playing at? If he wanted Kirito out of the way why even pay for his hospital treatment at all?”

Maybe it was to blackmail her like he all but said, but there were some things he’d said that just didn’t sit right with her.

‘ _He’s rather cute when he’s silent, don’t you think?_ ’

She didn’t like the way that bastard looked at her husband, not altogether different from the way he looked at her.

 _‘_ _It’s tempting to just keep him in this state, wouldn’t you say?_ ’

He said that like he actually had some control over whether or not Kirito woke up.

“He said RCT Progress bought SAO’s servers…” Asuna mused aloud. “And he wants to ‘keep’ Kirito comatose. Would I be reading too much into it if I said those things might be connected?”

“Probably.” At least Tiffany didn’t treat her with kid’s gloves. “But then again, if someone _was_ gonna come up with an evil plan to keep people trapped in a coma, that’s the guy I’d put my money on.”

“There’s something else,” Asuna added. “There were _thousands_ of survivors logged out of SAO, but only three hundred of them didn’t wake up. Considering the numbers, what are the odds really that Kirito would be one of them? Literally the only person who Sugou _could_ have used to try and get at me?”

“That’s a weird coincidence and all, but would he really have turned three hundred people into potatoes just to get at you?”

“Maybe… to cover up the fact that he was targeting Kirito specifically?”

“Three hundred people, Asuna.”

“He’s also doing this whole, ‘I’m trying to help these ‘ _poor_ ,’ ‘ _unfortunate_ ’ victims out of the nonexistent kindness of my nonexistent heart,’ thing, so it’s not like he isn’t getting something out of it.”

“Are you sure you’re not just trying to twist it into something bigger than it really is?” Tiffany asked. “Look, I get it; I wanna help Kirito too. But we ain’t in SAO anymore and you can’t solve everything by throwing a sword at it.”

A solemn look crossed Asuna’s face.

“You’re right.”

She rose to her feet, determination hardening her expression into that of a battle hardened veteran.

“I need to strategize first!”

With that she swept away from the bar and headed right for the stairs. RECT Inc. may have been her father’s company, but she didn’t know all that much about it. First she’d do her due diligence researching the company and Sugou’s part on it, then she’d figure out her next move from there.

“Hey wait, you’re still on the...” Tiffany trailed off with a resigned sigh. “Ah, forget it, you chased all the customers off already.”

* * *

Asuna immediately holed herself up in the room Tiffany had given her, pulling out her laptop and making herself comfortable on the bed as she immersed herself in her research.RCT Progress, as it turned out, didn’t just buy the SAO servers. As a subdivision of her father’s company, it had released its own VR console and title for that console, a fantasy game called ‘Alfheim Online.’ Learning that Sugou was the head of the Full Dive division only further solidified in Asuna’s mind that he had something to do with Kirito’s state. She decided to check out Alfheim’s official website but it was… confusing to say the least.

“Choose from one of nine faerie races and learn valuable life lessons like sharing, table manners, and…” Asuna squinted, making sure she was reading that correctly. “Aerial… combat supremacy? In the skies of Marshmallow Island, children will make lifelong friends with fellow faeries, or lay them to waste with the game’s intricate spellcraft system.”

What?

“Also coloring.”

_What!?_

“Ugh, who designed this dumpster fire of a game?” Asuna asked before remembering exactly why she was looking into it in the first place. “Oh. Right.”

The game looked… interesting. The flight system seemed worthwhile at least, but what really caught her attention was the fact that it was apparently built using fragments of SAO’s code.

If the games shared the same code, could they be compatible enough that someone’s consciousness could be transferred from one to the other?

Moving from the official site through various message boards, Asuna sought out threads discussing variations of the same question. She found several revolving around the SAO incident. Many from concerned parents imploring others not to let their kids near ALO, or any other VR title that RCT might release in the future. Just as much push back from hardcore VR fans who insisted that the AmuSphere was perfectly safe and that it was nothing like the NerveGear.

Even though it had the same functions as the NerveGear.

And was backwards compatible with the NerveGear.

...Sure, that checked out.

As Asuna scrolled through message boards she gradually shifted from one topic to the next, soon finding herself looking through threads of people discussing quests and seeking out party members, reporting bugs and helping one another get around or exploit them, and speculating about something called the World Tree, which Asuna supposed had to do with the game’s main quest story line. What really grabbed Asuna’s attention, however, was a screenshot posted on one of those discussions in particular.

According to the original poster, she and several friends had figured out a glitch that let them extend the game’s time limit on flight just a little, and they’d tried exploiting it in order to bypass the game’s main quest and go right to the top of the World Tree. They’d failed, not even reaching the lower branches, but she’d noticed something interesting in the tree and snapped a few quick screenshots just before she fell.

A giant golden birdcage, hidden above the clouds. Zooming in on the image had revealed a person inside of the cage. Asuna’s breaths stopped short. Her heart twisted painfully in her chest, joy and terror and utter confusion in equal measure warring inside her.

To anyone else, the person gazing out through the bars of the cage would have looked like a young woman, flat chest notwithstanding. But even though his hair flowed down past his waist and his ears tapered to delicate points, Asuna would recognize that face anywhere.

Her husband. Her Kirito.

That expression was alien on his face; he looked despondent, and maybe a little scared. And like that, Asuna’s warring emotions were snuffed out by a sudden burst of rage.

Whoever made Kirito look like that.

They were going to pay.

Setting the laptop aside, she swung her legs over the side of the bed. The clock on the wall displayed the time as one AM but Asuna paid it no mind as she threw open her bedroom door, marched down the hall to the room Tiffany shared with his husband, and banged on the door. She kept banging until Tiffany opened the door, groggy and annoyed.

“Girl, what are you doing, it’s one in the goddamn morning-”

“I found Kirito!” she said, instantly banishing all traces of weariness from his face. “I need another advance on my payment. Please, I promise I’ll never ask again, but I _need_ to go into Alfheim Online and save him!”

“...What?”

With a frustrated growl, she grabbed his hand and dragged him down the hall. Tiffany was either too stunned or too tired to protest, and let himself be pulled into her room where she promptly shoved the laptop in his face.

“It’s him,” she insisted. “I know he looks a little different but I’d recognize Kirito’s face anywhere. This game is made by RCT Progress, and Sugou is head of the Full Dive division of that company. I _knew_ it wasn’t a coincidence! _They used SAO’s code to make this game!_ ”

Tiffany stared at the blown up screenshot for a full five seconds, a bead of sweat rolling down the side of his face as he processed Asuna’s words.

“Oh shit… Oh _shit_ , that _is_ him,” he said, eyes locked intently on the screen. “I didn’t even recognize him, he looks… He looks just like a… Why is he dressed like that?”

“If Sugou’s the one behind this, and I’m convinced that he is,” Asuna growled, “I wouldn’t put anything past his perverted ass. That’s why I need to get into Alfheim Online ASAP.”

Asuna grinned. Her heart was beginning to race, the thought of returning to _her_ world and regaining her lost power making her giddy.

“I’m coming for you Sugou, and this time there won’t be any hospital security to save you. My sword will taste your blood if it’s the last thing I do.”

Tiffany glanced at the fencing sword leaning against the wall.

“...You mean in the video game, right?”

Asuna opened her mouth to answer, then thought better of it and simply shrugged.

“You know what?” Tiffany said, “I don’t care either way. Hang on a second, I got something you’ll like.”

Tiffany disappeared down the hall and returned moments later with something in hand that put stars in Asuna’s eyes.

“You already have the game?” she asked as Tiffany handed her his copy of Alfheim Online.

“Bought it a couple weeks back, but go figure, after the whole SAO disaster Kei wasn’t exactly… thrilled with the idea of me playing another VRMMO. It’s all your if you want it, I never even opened the dang thing.”

“You’re the best, Tiff!”

Whirling on the spot, Asuna set the laptop and game box on the bed and then dove into the closet to dig out her NerveGear. She hadn’t used it once since waking up from SAO, but now she was glad she’d thought to bring it with her when she left home.

“I don’t know what I’d do without you!”

She untangled the wires and connected the headset to the laptop. While the system was booting up she tore open the plastic wrapping and popped the cartridge out of the box.

“I’ll never be able to repay you enough!”

“Yeah yeah, I get it, I’m the man,” Tiffany cut her off. “Just… try not to stay up too late, alright? You won’t do Kirito any good if you run yourself ragged.”

Asuna paused with the headset halfway onto her head.

“I’ll just do some reconnaissance tonight,” she assured him. “I need to get a feel for this game anyway.”

That seemed to satisfy Tiffany. He nodded, hand on her bedroom doorknob.

“Give ‘em hell, girl.”

With that he walked out, leaving Asuna to embark on her rescue mission. Locking the headset into place, Asuna reclined laid back.

“Link start.”

And left reality behind.

* * *

Asuna found herself suddenly standing on a platform surrounded by glowing green-blue panels. It was similar to what she remembered of the character creation screen when she first played Sword Art Online.

Except for the… music.

<Hey there champ!>

And… whatever _that_ was.

<Welcome to the wonderful world of Alfheim Online! Hope you’ve had enough juice, ‘cause you’re gonna need your energy for all the fun you’re gonna be having with your new fairy friends!>

“Jesus Christ, what am I, five?” Asuna growled as she stepped up to the name entry terminal and began to type. “Can I turn you off?”

<No can do kiddo! To start, why don’t you- BZZT! Uh oh! Sorry kiddo! Looks like somebody else already has that name!>

Asuna felt her eyebrow twitch. She tried typing in her name again.

“No they don’t, they’re not Asuna, _I’m_ Asuna!”

She hit enter and the screen buzzed again and the same obnoxious voice repeated the same obnoxious message. Now that she thought about it, hadn’t Kirito told her that most players didn’t use their real name? She started typing.

“Asuna_Yuuki.”

<Uh oh! Sorry kiddo->

“Yuuki_Asuna.”

<Uh oh! Sorry->

“Vice_Commander_Asuna.”

<BZZT!>

<BZZT!>

<BZZT!>

She tried again and again, using variations of her name and her title. Even if she could use any name, she wanted to use the handle she was known by in SAO, where she met Kirito. After what must have been around thirty or so variations and a minor migraine, the game finally accepted her entry: LightningFlashAsuna_2025.

<Name accepted! Congratulations sport, ya did it!>

“...Kirito, you so owe me big time for this.”

<You’re almost ready to play, buckaroo! Just as soon as you customize your avatar!>

Now this was interesting. Sword Art Online hadn’t offered her different races. Asuna scrolled through the options, ignoring the voice over’s descriptions and advice, and paused at a red-colored fairy wearing heavy armor.

“Salamander,” Asuna read aloud. “The strongest of the fairy races, specializing in fire magic.”

If there was one ability that she could have used in SAO, it was the ability to set people on fire with her mind. Asuna selected the salamander.

<Are you sure you want to be a->

Asuna cut off the voice by hitting the ‘default’ key on the appearance customization screen.

<Very well. Then let your magical, _fairy_ adventure _begin! >_

“Finally!” Asuna groaned.

<Brought to you by uPlay!>

“...I’m burning this fudge-er to the ground. Wait, why did I say-?”

* * *

And then she was falling.

Asuna blinked, feeling the wind rushing around her and whipping her now blood-red hair around her face.

“No, seriously, why did I say ‘fudge’ instead of ‘fudge?’ _Why did I just say ‘fudge’ again!?_ ”

A vast desert spread out below her, moonlight glistening off the sands like the starlight high above. Putting aside the weird slip of the tongue for now, Asuna shifted her attention towards figuring out the flight system.

Only to find herself suddenly frozen in mid-air.

“...Am I flying?”

The static buzz in her ears and sudden flickering of the sky told her that no, she wasn’t. Suddenly the world around her shifted, environment shattering into an empty black void below her as she resumed falling once more.

“ _Ohsweetcheeseandcrackersthisone’sbrokentoo!_ ”

The frigid desert night air grew warm and Asuna felt trees and leaves whip and crack around her as she plummeted down into a forest that hadn’t been there before. She clawed at the air until she finally managed to grab a tree branch… which promptly snapped. She hit the ground hard, and the tree branch clonked her right on the head.

“...Ow.”

She sat there for several moments, stunned, before she realized that none of that actually _hurt_. Her hit points had taken a big hit and she could definitely feel the tree branches make contact with her skin, but the actual sensation of pain was absent.

“Oh right, kid’s game.” Pulling herself to her feet, Asuna brushed the dust from her new armor and plucked a leaf from her hair. “That should make things easy then. A game where it’s okay to die’s gonna be a walk in the park.”

The salamander-styled beginner’s armor matched her old SAO colors and Asuna found herself pleased with that; a simple red and white tabard over a chain shirt with a flame motif woven into the cloth. The starting sword hung from her hip, a plain longsword as opposed to her preferred rapier. Asuna decided the first thing she’d do when she made it into a town was replace it. On that note, she figured she should take a look at her inventory and figure out her budget. She swiped her right hand through the air.

Nothing happened.

“Oh shoot, not again.” A pause. “Why am I saying shoot now, _what the fudge!?_ ”

She kept swiping her hand in the air, then swiped it from right to left when up and down didn’t work, then left to right, then upside down, then she tried making a circle.

Then she tried with her left hand and felt incredibly stupid when the menu opened immediately.

“At least Kirito wasn’t around to see that.”

Her character menu took her by surprise. She wouldn’t have thought that a starting character would have such high numbers. Now that she thought about it, these numbers were pretty close to…

“My SAO stats,” she realized with a start. “Excellent, I can use this. Maybe my items carried over too...”

She opened up her inventory to a wall of question marks. That was disappointing, but still, it was a major stroke of luck that her NerveGear even remembered her SAO character’s information. And it wasn’t like she wasn’t losing anything that couldn’t be repla-

Wait, shit, _Yui!_ Asuna began scrolling frantically. If married players still shared inventory space in ALO then she should be there, _please_ be there…

Asuna nearly cried tears of relief when she found the one item in her inventory that wasn’t glitched. She tapped the window and a sphere of light materialized right before her eyes. At first a tiny teardrop-shaped gem, but then the shape began to expand, blossoming into the shape of a young girl.

The tears finally fell as the light cleared and Asuna laid eyes on her daughter for the first time in months.

“Y… Yui!”

Yui smiled at her.

“Hello, Mama!”

With that, the dam broke. Asuna burst out into sobs, gathering Yui up in her arms and burying her face in her little girl’s hair. The AI’s skin felt warm against hers, and she stroked Yui’s hair as she held her like she might vanish again the moment she let go.

“Did you like my joke?”

The words didn’t quite register at first. Gently loosening her hold, Asuna reluctantly raised one hand to wipe away her tears.

“I’m sorry,” she said, sniffling just a bit, “Your what?”

* * *

Needless to say, Asuna wasn’t exactly thrilled to learn Yui had faked her death as a joke.

“Why on Earth would you think that was a good idea!?” Asuna demanded, equally parts horrified and furious.

“I was worried you and Daddy would begin to view me differently after I revealed my true nature,” Yui said as though it were the simplest thing in the world. “Thus, I attempted to humanize myself through clever witticisms!”

“Pretending to die was your idea of a ‘clever witticism?’” Asuna asked incredulously.

“Yes.” Yui blinked. “Was it not?”

“No, no, very much _no!_ Daddy and I were worried sick young lady! Don’t you ever do that to us again!”

At Asuna’s tone, Yui began to wilt, beads of tears welling up in the corners of her eyes. If the guilt had stabbed her any harder, Asuna would have shattered right then and there. She pulled Yui against her, wrapping her in yet another hug.

“I’m not mad,” she assured her daughter. Placing one hand on top of Yui’s head, she began to stroke her hair gently. “I was just scared. We both were. You didn’t need to humanize yourself, we already love you.”

“I am sorry. I did not wish to cause you genuine distress; my original intent was to jump out and surprise you as you left the Save Room, immediately letting you know all was well. Sadly, when Daddy unexpectedly turned me into an item I found myself unable to escape or even communicate with you.”

Asuna’s eyes slowly in horror.

“Y-you mean...”

Yui’s voice turned hollow.

“I had to just sit there and watch for months as you moved on without me, leaving your only child to suffer in silence and isolation. Also, Daddy ruined my joke.”

Asuna stared at her.

“...Um, maybe when we find Daddy we just keep that little secret to ourselves, okay sweetie? I don’t think he can handle much more emotional baggage. Ah, right! Speaking of Daddy, someone I know in the real world is holding him prisoner somewhere in this game and we need to find him _as soon_ as possible.”

Yui said nothing at first, staring at Asuna blankly. Then she raised her hands to her head. Her eyes changed, lines of code racing by as though on a computer screen and when she next spoke her voice sounded oddly robotic.

<We can be there in six hours. Let’s move.>

“Um, Yui? Are you oka- Whoa!”

Once again Asuna’s vision was filled with white light. In a flash, Yui had transformed herself from a typical seven year old to a tiny pixie, small enough to fit in the palm of Asuna’s hand, dressed in a pink flower petal dress with slender dragonfly wings hanging from her shoulders. Asuna would admit, she looked adorable and the purple flower now adorning her hair suited her, but it was still a sudden and bizarre change.

“Yui, what the heck!? Why are you a pixie?”

“It is more convenient this way,” Yui answered. She settled on Asuna’s shoulder with a look of determination. “This form can fly and is more aerodynamic. Any more stupid questions, _Mommy?_ ”

“Hey, watch your tone young lady!” Asuna said. “Don’t worry, we _are_ going to save Daddy, even if I have to burn down the World Tree to do it. But we can’t just go flying off without a plan. For starters, I don’t even know _how_ to fly yet, and there are still things like weapons and armor to think about-”

Yui didn’t give her a chance to finish.

“Understood! Activating wings!”

“Wait, what?”

Glancing over her shoulder, Asuna watched as a pair of ruby-red wings materialized between her shoulder blades. What made it especially bizarre was the fact that she could _feel_ them, like they were actual, tangible extensions of her body instead of just light and pixels.

“Yui? Yui, what’s going on? What are you doing sweetie!?”

“Takeoff in T-minus-”

Asuna braced herself.

“NOW!”

Just in time for her new wings to move on their own and launch her into the air.

Even though she’d been expecting it, Asuna couldn’t stop herself from screaming as she rocketed through the sky at breakneck speeds. She tried to move her wings but that only sent her spiraling wildly out of control, ducking below the tree line and up again like a dolphin on crack. Yui was clutching onto her tabard for dear life, the strong winds threatening to tear her away at any moment.

“You must remain calm, Mommy!” Yui shouted, struggling to make her tiny voice heard over the whistling wind. “The flight system is dependent upon your heart rate! If you become scared you will not be able to control the path of your- _Whoa!_ ”

Remain calm, right! Like it was that easy!

But… wasn’t she Lightning Flash Asuna? Vice Commander of the Knights of the Blood Oath? If she could face down _Sheeptaur_ without losing her nerve, she could handle this! Taking a deep breath, Asuna steeled herself, calling on that austere calm that always seemed to possess her in the heat of battle.

The whistling wind slowed and suddenly Asuna found herself floating high above the forest. Leaning back, she dropped into a free fall entirely of her own volition. Her wings obeyed her now and she swept upwards, spinning in the air, flying in graceful arcs and figure eights. Laughter rang in her ears, and it took Asuna a second to realize it was hers.

“This is amazing!” she cried! “Oh man, but it’s probably a good thing this wasn’t in SAO.”

“Correct!” Yui agreed. Asuna righted herself in the air, hovering in place as Yui came to float before her eyes. “I calculate at least a forty seven point oh three increase in the death toll had Kayaba Akihiko implemented a flight system into his game, and that is with a fully functional flight system that experiences no technical errors. In any case, we should get moving. The nearest town is the sylph city of Sylvaine but even with your speed it is still farther away than the time limit on your wings will allow us to reach in one trip. We will have to find a safe place in the forest to rest if we want to make it there tonight.”

Yui flew a few inches in the direction of the city, pointing at a collection of glittering lights in the distance.

“Sylvaine is in that direction. We do not have a moment lose!”

With that she made herself comfortable in the item pouch hanging off of Asuna’s hip, poking her head out from underneath the leather flap, and Asuna raced off in the direction of the fairy city.

Asuna had thought the desert vast, but as the ocean of trees raced by beneath her with the cluster of lights seemingly no closer than they had been several minutes ago, she was starting to realize how truly enormous this forest was and how far that glitch had relocated her. She just hoped it didn’t happen again. Unless it was going to drop her at the top of the World Tree, in which case she hoped it just waited until she could upgrade her equipment.

A shrill scream snapped Asuna out of her thoughts. Glancing down she found a break in the trees, a small clearing through which a green-clad woman was running as three heavily armored red fairies chased her from the air. More salamanders. And that woman in green must have been a sylph, if Asuna was remembering the race selection menu correctly. Then, a stroke of bad luck; the sylph player tripped, and soon was surrounded by all three of her pursuers. Despite the overwhelming odds she was on her feet in a second, hand flying to the hilt of her sword. But, at the last moment, she hesitated to draw it. Maybe paralyzed by fear.

If she were back in SAO, Asuna wouldn’t have thought twice about stepping in to help the woman on the ground. As it was, she didn’t have any reason to care. Getting to the World Tree was more pressing. Her wings were growing heavy, however, and that clearing was as good a place as any to let them rest. If she could get some information out of those other salamanders while she was at it, even better. Asuna began her descent.

“Alright, let’s try this again,” the salamanders’ leader was saying as Asuna descended behind him. “You will not slip from our grasp again, Princess Leafa! Surrender and we shall-”

“Er, hello?”

“ _Ohf_ _ortheloveofChristmas_ _!_ ”

As the salamanders whirled around the irritated expression on the leader’s face vanished, confusion taking its place. It was funny; he’d been speaking with a thick rural accent just a second ago but all traces of it seemed to vanish when he’d yelled.

“Sorry to interrupt,” she said, “I just wanted to ask-”

“Missy,” one of the other two salamanders cut her off, his rural accent even thicker than the leader’s, “watch‘oo doin’ out here in da middle of da night all by yerself?”

Asuna blinked.

“I’m trying to-” she started, but he wasn’t done.

“Pritty lil’ thang like you should be back home makin’ sandwiches fer yer man.”

Asuna was actually stunned. She didn’t really hear that, did she? A hollow laugh bubbled past her lips, the temperature seeming to drop by several degrees as pure killing intent bled into the air around her.

“I’m sorry, there must be something wrong with the audio processing in my NerveGear. I _didn’t_ just hear what I _thought_ I heard...” She fixed a steely glare on the leader. “ _Right?_ ”

Their heavy plate armor was leagues better than her chain shirt, and each was armed with a heavy lance. If Asuna really were a beginner, just one of them would be able to crush her in an instant.

“Salamander women aren’t supposed to leave our territory,” the leader growled. “Men, why don’t you escort this sweet southern belle back home-”

Asuna reached for the hilt of her sword as the other two salamanders started for her.

“-while I deal with the princess here-”

Time slowed. Quick as her moniker, Asuna charged forward, driving the tip of her blade through the closest salamander’s throat. With a flourish she twisted her whole body and came to stand behind him, a fading trail of light in the air marking the path her sword took. His head dropped to the ground, followed by his body a moment later before both pieces shattered, leaving behind a floating ball of bright red flame. The leader turned, all too late to witness his man’s death.

“KEITH!” The salamander’s horrified scream echoed throughout the forest. “NOOOOOOOOO!”

Seeing her chance, the sylph turned and sprinted off, disappearing into the forest. Her pursuers hardly paid her any mind, focused as they now were on Asuna.

Asuna turned her eyes on the second follower salamander, raising her sword.

“That dern turncoat dun’ asploded Keith!” he cried as Asuna charged. “But the prophecy said- Oh shoot, you’re not even gonna wait, are yo-”

No, she was not. Asuna’s blade shone red-hot as she plunged it clean through his eye, dropping his hit points straight to zero. He died on the end of her sword, leaving behind a flame identical to his comrade's.

“ _That_ felt good,” Asuna said, turning towards the salamander leader with a wicked smirk. “I forgot how satisfying solving my problems through violence was!”

“Wh-” He was shaking, with fear Asuna thought at first. Until he started shouting. “What do you think you’re doing!? We’re both salamanders, we’re supposed to be on the same side! You should be helping us!”

“Oh, really?” she asked in a falsely sweet tone. “But I thought salamander women were supposed to stay in the kitchen? Or did you just mean the ones you _aren’t_ terrified of?”

He growled, raising his lance.

“General PantySmasher fears no woman, and once I’ve shown you your place-”

He blinked and Asuna’s face was centimeters from his. The serene smile on her lips didn’t quite match the look in her eyes.

“Oooooooooh… Fiddlesticks.”

She was gone again just as quickly and as his mind struggled to catch up, dozens of holes appeared in his avatar. He burst into pixels before he’d even registered his health hitting the red.

“Wait...” Asuna turned and quirked a brow at the flame that was left behind when he’d died. “Did he just call himself ‘General PantySmasher?’”

“Technically speaking, his registered username was PantySmasher underscore seven one six.” Yui flew out of the item pouch and perched on Asuna’s shoulder. “And his comrades were ex vee ex underscore DeezGunz underscore ex vee ex, and Keith zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero nine. Terrible taste in names notwithstanding, you did manage to get quite a bit of money and gear from them.”

“Yeah, not much I can use,” Asuna said, already inspecting the winnings deposited into her inventory. Mostly gold, but she’d also gotten some weapons and a set of heavy armor the salamanders hadn’t had equipped when they died. The salamanders, it seemed, favored lances, war axes, and other heavy weapons. None appealed to her, and although her strength was high enough to equip the heavy armor thanks to the salamander racial bonus, it still came with a severe movement penalty. Asuna hadn’t survived SAO by weighing herself down. She’d survived by being light on her feet, by striking fast and never letting the enemy catch up with her. And with every second ticking by being another second Kirito was probably suffering at Sugou’s hands, she couldn’t afford to slow down now.

“I guess I’ll sell it when we get to Sylvaine,” Asuna said as she closed the menu. “I can use the money to get some better gear.”

At the very least she wanted to swap out the longsword for a rapier.

“What business have you in Sylvaine?”

Asuna whirled and drew her sword in one move, Yui once again hiding in her item pouch, only to relax at the sight of the speaker.

“Oh, you’re still here,” she said, lowering her sword. “I thought you’d run off.”

The sylph player was fixing Asuna with an intense stare, both hands gripping the hilt of her katana-like sword so hard they were shaking. She looked to be around Asuna’s age, blond hair pulled up into a high ponytail and held in place with a white lily-shaped bow. Unlike the salamanders, her green armor was elegant and light, not appearing to offer much in the way of protection but showing off her… assets quite well.

“I know not what you hope to gain by betraying your fellows,” the sylph said, her posh accent painting a stark contrast between her and the salamanders, “b-but… you’ll… find no easy prey among the sylph kingdoms! Do with me as you will, I am at your mercy-” She was still holding her sword in none too terrible a stance. “-but Sylvaine will never fall!

Asuna stared at her blankly.

“Ah… Huh?”

“Well? Do as you will, _salamander_ , I am no- _ACK!! What are you doing!?_ ”

She jolted, leaping back as Asuna pinched her cheek.

“Wow! The NPCs in this game are so lifelike!”

“I’m not an NPC you weirdo!” the sylph cried, abandoning the posh accent altogether. “Geez, haven’t you ever heard of roleplaying before?”

Images of a certain bearded wannabe bard flashed through Asuna’s mind, line after line of butchered Shakespearean English chipping away at her will to live.

“Anyway…” The sylph cleared her throat, donning the ‘royal’ accent once more. “Are you truly one of the salamanders, my lady? I confess, I have not laid eyes upon a lady of the salamander kingdoms before. Judging by the appearance of your menfolk I would have thought your women would be...” She gestured awkwardly with her hands, all the more awkward because she was still holding her sword. “ _Woof._ ”

“Uh, yeah?”

“But then… why would you come to my aid at the expense of your brethren?”

“They’re not my… _brethren!_ ” Asuna snapped in disgust. “And I wasn’t trying to save you either. I just had some questions about this game and then they made the mistake of pissing me off.”

“O-oh, I suppose I should count myself fortunate then… So, does that mean… I am free to go?”

Asuna considered for a moment, then shook her head.

“Not quite.” The last of the salamanders’ flames faded, leaving the forest clearing dark once more. “Since I’m not getting anything out of General Misogyny or his goons, maybe you can answer my questions?”

The sylph’s eyes traveled to Asuna’s sword and she flinched.

“You brute!”

“Oh relax, I’m not gonna hurt you or anything,” Asuna said, before murmuring, “Drama queen.” To make her point she sheathed her sword before continuing, “I just want to know some things about this game; for starters, why I can’t curse here.”

The sylph raised an eyebrow as she answered, “Oh, have you not heard tell of the… en… the enchantment, placed upon this land by the… great master of games...”

“And drop the roleplaying. I’m so not in the mood right now.”

“Fine, fine, sorry.” She sheathed her sword as well. “It’s the profanity filter; this _is_ a kid’s game after all.”

Ah, that explained it. And pissed Asuna off all the more. Just one more thing she was going to make Sugou suffer for.

“Alright, now I want you to tell me everything you know about the tree.”

At the mention of the World Tree, a knowing look crossed the sylph’s face.

“Oh, I see, that’s what you’re after! Well why didn’t you just say so? It’s close; deep in this heart of this forest stands the oldest tree in all the sylph lands. Over the long centuries it’s absorbed untold amounts of magic and knowledge from the souls of fallen adventurers, posing its mystical equations to unwary travelers-”

“Are we still talking about the World Tree?” Asuna cut her off.

“Ooooooh. Oh shirt, no. I thought...” The sylph cocked her head. “But, what are you doing in sylph territory if it’s the World Tree you’re after? It’s a lot closer to salamander territory than it is to this forest, you’d have to have flown away from it to even get here!”

Asuna opened her mouth to answer, then closed it again. Maybe it wouldn’t matter that much to this girl, but if she told her about the glitch and then the sylph thought to report it to the admins, they might take a look at her account. Worst case, Sugou himself would see the report, realize whose account it was, and trap her in ALO just like he’d done to Kirito. Who knew if he’d even keep Kirito alive once he had her. Even in the better scenarios where some other admin responded they’d probably take one look at her abnormally high stats and scale them back down to level one, assuming they didn’t outright ban her account on the assumption she was intentionally cheating.

“...I got lost,” she said at last, earning an incredulous stare from the sylph.

The sylph said nothing at first. Then her hand shot to her mouth, barely in time to badly stifle a snort. Asuna felt her eye twitch as the sylph’s shoulders began to shake and her laughter grew louder in spite of her apparent attempt to hold it back.

“I think I’ll just kill you and take your stuff,” Asuna said, reaching for her sword. That at least brought the sylph’s laughter to an abrupt halt.

“Wa-wait- wait- wait- wait!” she cried, holding her hands up in a placating gesture.

“Do it Mommy!”

Asuna gasped as a tiny ball of pink flew out of her item pouch. Yui floated in the air right in front of her eyes, though Yui’s were fixated on the sylph in a pointed glare.

“We do not have time to deal with this obstinate _hussy!_ Kill her, leave her, I do not care! Let us just _go!_ ” Yui hissed and spit at Leafa, voice dripping with enough venom to down an epic level dragon. “If you get in our way, _I swear I will_ -”

“Yui, stop!” Asuna cried, cupping her hands around her daughter. “You need to stay out of sight...”

But it was too late. The sylph’s eyes went wide at the sight of Yui.

“Whoa! What is that, some kind of pet item?”

“Ex- _cuse_ me!?” Yui growled, muffled by Asuna’s hands.

“Er, yeah!” Asuna replied, making a mental note to apologize to Yui later. “I, uh, did a quest on the way here that had her as an ultra rare drop.”

Yui bit her thumb.

“Oh, really? Where was the quest?”

“I’unno, I just told you I got lost.”

“That figures,” the sylph sighed. “Anyway, if you wanna know about the World Tree, I’d be happy to tell you! I do kinda owe you one for killing those guys, and there are a lot more guys than girls here so… I guess that means us girls should stick together? Or something? Let’s just go somewhere a little more comfortable first. These woods are crawling with salamanders – eh, the bad ones, I mean – and they’ve been gunning for me _a lot_ lately. I know this killer bar in Sylvaine. We can get a drink while I tell ya about it, my treat!”

“Wait, this game doesn’t let you curse, but it has a bar?” Asuna asked, raising a brow. “What kind of logic is that?”

“Hey, ‘s far as I’m concerned the guys who made this game were probably shirt faced the whole time. At the very least the guy who made the Math Tree was.”

“The wha- Never mind, I don’t want to know.” Exchanging a glance with Yui, Asuna sighed. She wasn’t looking to make friends, but she couldn’t deny the help would be useful. “Alright, we were heading there anyway.”

“Awesome!” the sylph cried, before collecting herself. “I-I mean, yeah, it’s cool. Whatever. You can call me Princess Leafa, heir to the throne of Sylvaine!”

“I’m not calling you all that,” Asuna replied. “So we going or what?”

Spreading their wings, both girls launched themselves into the air, racing in the direction of the collection of white spires that made up the sylph capital city.

* * *

The four towers bordering the city were truly gargantuan, eclipsing even the nearby mountain range, but most of the buildings were ridiculously tiny by comparison, domes of white wood and metal lit up by green and turquoise lights. From high above the lights of the city scattering across the silvery stones that made up the cobbled streets looked like starlight dancing across the surface of a river. Leafa took Asuna’s hand and guided her to land at the base of one of these towers.

“Welcome to the capital city of the Sylph kingdom!” Leafa said. “If you want to get some better arms and armor this is the place to do it, but we can save that ‘til after- Oh butterscotch.”

“Huh?” Asuna blinked, realizing a second later that Leafa was looking over her shoulder. She turned to see a sylph boy with green hair in a bowl cut and large droopy ears running towards them waving. “Is he an enemy?”

“No, just a friend,” Leafa answered with a sigh. “Don’t judge me, but I’m about to go deep.”

The boy was breathing hard by the time he reached them, doubling over to catch his breath.

“Well hello there, my dear Recon!” Leafa greeted him, once again adopting her formal, overly posh tone. “What brings you before my royal countenance this fine evening?”

“Oh, nothing much. How’s it hangin’ Leafa?”

Asuna snorted.

“Gosh darn it Recon!” Leafa chastised. “You’re making me look bad in front of the salamander!”

“Oh, oh gosh, I’m sorry Princess, I didn’t mean to...” Eyes widening, he looked up at Asuna as though just realizing she was there. For several long moments he just stared, pink spreading across his cheeks. Then he snapped himself out of his daze. “Wait, shoot, a salamander!”

He leaped back, hand flying to the handle of the short sword strapped to his lower back.

“You, uh, y-you’ve got some nerve… coming… coming into our territory! Um… Do you… want me to kill this one, Princess?” he asked, eyes still on Asuna.

“No need for that, Recon. She’s one of the good ones.”

Brows furrowing, Asuna shot her guide an incredulous look before realization struck.

“Oh, _oh!_ Okay, I hear it now,” she muttered to herself.

Recon relaxed instantly, releasing his grip on his sword and offering Asuna a bashful smile.

“Oh, really? Awesome! Any friend of the Princess’s is a friend of mine!” he chirped, offering Asuna his hand. She reached for it without thought, not noticing the dry look Leafa was shooting her. “My name’s Reco-”

Asuna snatched her hand back just as he started screaming bloody murder.

“Whoa, what the…?”

He was frozen in place, hand still outstretched as though to shake Asuna’s and he just kept screaming and screaming with his eyes locked on the ground.

“Oh, yeah, that happens every once in a while,” Leafa explained, raising her voice to be heard over her friend’s shrieks. “He bought his NerveGear second hand from the parents of one of those dead SAO kids. Every once in a while it kind of… How did he put it again? Pulses the… fear center of his brain? Apparently he got it pretty cheap though, what, with it melting their son and all.”

Asuna stared at her and then at Recon in horrified silence.

As abruptly as it had started, Recon’s screaming stopped. He leaped back, hand flying to his weapon once more as he looked around wildly for some invisible enemy.

“It’s okay now, Recon” Leafa assured him. “You’re back now. The tentacle teacher can’t get you.”

“Why on earth would you keep using that thing!?” Asuna demanded.

He shrugged sheepishly and answered, “Oh, it’s not all that bad. Sure, being randomly ambushed by my worst fears isn’t… ideal. B-but you take the good with the bad, y’know? I got this thing for sixty thousand yen and all I had to do was… clean the brains out of it.”

“...Wasn’t the NerveGear fifty thousand yen new?”

The color actually drained out of Recon’s face, droplets quickly forming in the corners of his eyes.

“Well, I- I mea- I mean, they were _grieving_. They- They probably weren’t thinking about the math too much.”

“Oh, honey,” Asuna sighed.

“Anyway-” Recon’s voice cracked slightly and he cleared his throat. “Are y- Are you okay, Princess? When you didn’t respawn back in the city after those salamanders separated us, I-I thought you’d been captured or...”

“Pssht, yeah, I’m fine. This chick here saved me!” She gestured to Asuna. “So now I’m telling her about the game as thanks.”

“O-okay, but- but what about your engagement party? We’ve all been looking for you and the band’s been playing your intro music for… well for about… five hours now? I know it’s fashionable to be a little late but… yeah...”

“Oh, whoops, totally forgot about that,” Leafa said with a nervous laugh. She seemed to think about it for a second, then turned and looped an arm around Asuna’s. “Eh, screw it. Just say I got captured by the salamanders or something.”

“But-”

“Later dude!” she blew him off, pulling Asuna along as she left a despondent Recon by the side of the road.

* * *

Leafa’s bar was nice and cozy on the inside, all wood furniture lit up by golden fairy lights, and the food was served on broad green leaves that had a nice herbal smell. Asuna didn’t bother ordering food for herself, but she lamented her loss of taste as a server returned with a beautiful array of baked sweetstopped with colorful flowers and berries along with the wine. Yui instantly grabbed onto a shortbread cookie that was larger than her head and made herself comfortable sitting on Asuna’s shoulder as she slowly worked her way through the treat.

“So...” Leafa started as she toyed with the stem of her wine glass. “I guess you probably want an explanation?”

“Nah, not really,” Asuna answered. For some reason, that seemed to take Leafa by surprise.

“Really? You’re not… even a little curious about the fact I’m engaged?”

“Nope. Like I said, I don’t really care about your roleplaying thing. All I want is to get some information on the World Tree.”

“Alright, fair enough, I guess...” Was it Asuna’s imagination, or did Leafa look disappointed? “First, you’re gonna need some background info. _For you see_ , long ago-”

“Can you just give me the short version?” Asuna cut her off. Leafa sighed.

“Okay, so six months ago, a group of nine friends found this game in the bargain bin of some store,” she said. “It was supposed to be for kids, but for whatever reason _nobody’s_ parents were letting them play it. Adults are always freaking out about something dumb.”

“And, you don’t think the whole SAO incident might have something to do with it?”

“I guess.” Leafa shrugged. “But I mean, get over it, right?”

“...I swear, you remind me of someone,” Asuna said, picking up her wine glass. “I just… I can’t place who right this minute.”

“Hm, yours truly is one of a kind!” Leafa said. “Anyway, ’cause of all of the playable races available, these friends figured this game would make the perfect setting for a roleplaying campaign they’d been dreaming of since they were children-” Her voice dropped into a whisper. “- _Race War!_ ”

Asuna took a deep breath. Then she drained half of her wine in one gulp.

“Go on.”

“It’s named for the campaign’s story. See, rumor has it that whichever race is first to make it to the top of the World Tree will have any wish they want granted by the Fairy King, Oberon. So naturally, whoever wins that race wins the war! Race War. Hashtag Race War.”

“Ohhhh!” Asuna laughed awkwardly. “Okay, yeah, I can see how you’d get there, kinda. I was scared you were gonna say-”

“There’s also been quite a lot of racial violence,” Leafa cut her off as she watched a pair of sylphs drag a screaming cait sith out of the bar behind Asuna.

“…Okay.” Asuna finished the rest of her wine in gulp number two. “Look, this is fascinating at all, but the only thing I really care about is how to get to the _top_ of the World Tree. Can you tell me that?”

“Oh. Yeah, no idea,” Leafa said as she picked up a fork and picked a slice of cake.

“What?”

“Yeah man, nobody does! If any of us knew that, someone would have won the war already,” she explained as she raised a bite of cake to her lips.

The sound of breaking glass suddenly hit Asuna’s ears. At first she couldn’t quite register where it had come from herself. Then she felt the pain in her hand and realized a sliver had been shaved off the end of her health bar. Looking down numbly at the shattered pieces of her wine glass on the table and the thin red slashes covering her hand, she sighed, then held her head in her hands.

“Darn it...”

Yui gently stroked her cheek.

“Mommy, I am finished with my cookie,” she said. “May I have another?”

Leafa had dropped her fork and was now staring at Asuna with the most puzzled look on her face. Right, this wouldn’t matter to some random player she’d just met. As far as Leafa and anyone else in Alfheim Online was concerned, this world was _just_ a game. They couldn’t imagine what it was to have theirs or someone else’s life hanging in the balance. She took a deep breath and raised her head.

“...Sorry about that,”Asuna said, forcing a weak smile to her face. “I just… I really need to get up there as fast as possible.”

“Okay, but why?” Leafa asked. “It’s _just_ a game, chick.”

And that was exactly why Asuna couldn’t tell her. The last thing Asuna wanted to do to anyone was drag them into anything like SAO. If she saddled this girl – a complete stranger to her and Kirito – with real world consequences, that’s exactly what she’d be doing.

“Don’t worry about it,” she said, picking bits of glass out of her hand and rising to her feet. “This is my problem. I appreciate your help and everything, but I think we should go our separate ways now.”

“Oh, uh...”

Asuna was out the door before Leafa could get a word in edgewise.

* * *

The AmuSphere rig was much more streamlined than the clunky NerveGear headset, but after hours of diving it still left a sore spot on the sides of her head, right above her ears. Suguha slipped the visoroff and set it beside her on the mattress, staring up at the personal poster of her ALO avatar, Leafa, plastered to the ceiling.

Usually diving into Alfheim Online for hours at a time made her feel light. Free. But this time, couldn’t help feeling strangely disappointed. The salamander girl had been weird, but also kind of cool, and the rejection stung more than it should have considering they’d only just met. She lamented the fact she hadn't thought to ask her name. Ruthless, driven like a knight on a quest, but also _so_ beautiful like a princess from a fairy tale…

Suguha’s face flushed crimson as she realized what she was thinking. Choking back a silent scream, she rolled over and buried her face in her hamster pillow.

Eventually she managed to calm down. Sitting up on her bed, she checked the clock and saw she’d stayed up until three in the morning hanging out with that girl. It wouldn’t be the first time she’d stayed up late gaming, not unlike a certain someone…

Packing that thought away to be addressed never, Suguha swung her legs over the side of the bed. She’d eaten before diving, but she felt like she was starving! That’s what she got for eating virtual cake right before logging out.

Despite the late hour, Suguha didn’t bother making an effort to keep quiet as she stepped out into the hallway and flicked on the light. She paused on her way to the kitchen, stopping at the bedroom door next to hers.

“Hey, douche-face!” she shouted. “I’m getting a midnight snack. I’m not offering to getcha one or anything, I just wanted to piss you off.”

Like usual, there was no answer. Suguha shrugged as she turned away from her brother’s bedroom door to go get her snack. She was craving some blueberry muffins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally I wrote Asuna's meeting with Leafa to be a lot more similar to Kirito's and Leafa's meeting, but then I got worried that the second half of the chapter was following the original episode too closely and rewrote it. Hopefully it still flows well. Next chapter; Asuna gets an equipment upgrade, and we get Suguha's POV.


End file.
